Frenship High School Robotics Mentor Nancy Schunke said that throughout the school year, the Fe Iron Tigers faced many challenges and obstacles with government mandates, virtual competitions, and dealing with the pandemic all together.

“During a time when most of their peers were competing in face-to-face competitions during the normal school year,” Schunke said, “the Frenship robotics team built a robot and were only able to compete virtually showing off their skills through videos of obstacle course runs and team interviews.”

This year the robotics team put in over 1,500 hours together to complete the virtual games for the FIRST competition, and to prepare for the face-to-face UIL State Competition.

Schunke said the team was ecstatic when they learned that they would be able to compete in a face-to-face competition.

“The Texas Cup was the first chance to see how their robot fared against other team in live competition,” Schunke said. “Our students put in a lot of extra hours and hard work to be prepared for this event.”

At the competition the Fe Iron Tigers began the competition with the qualification rounds. Based on their performance they were able to advance to the next step.

“They were selected to be a part of an alliance with two other Texas teams [as a part of the competition], 3310 Blackhawk robotics from Rockwall, Texas and 9989 from Greenville, Texas and participated in playoff matches,” Schunke said.

After being the first seeded alliance and going undefeated in the playoffs and finals, the Fe Iron Tigers won the Texas Cup, dominating the entire competition.

“Despite all of the challenges they faced this year,” Schunke said, “they have come home as champs of the 2021 Texas Cup State Championship!”