Robotics Team 342 from Dorchester School District 2 high schools recently won the top honor at a 2004 FIRST Robotics Competition by earning the Palmetto Regional Chairman's Award. This award is the most prestigious award that FIRST has to offer. Team 342 also won the Palmetto Regional Autodesk Visualization Award for an animation video submission.

The Palmetto Regional Competition was held at the Colonial Center in Columbia , SC. Team 342 played a major role in bringing this event to South Carolina . As a result, 14 new Robotics Teams were started in South Carolina this year with more expected for 2005.

Team 342 won the Autodesk Inventor Award at the Championship Event in Atlanta 's Georgia Dome. The team competed against entries from other teams from around the nation. This award provided our schools with approximately $50,000 of computers and software for the engineering program at Summerville High School .

Dorchester County Councilman Larry Hargett recently attended the local awards ceremony held at Fort Dorchester High School . Hargett complemented the students for their outstanding performance in the competition, their mastering of sophisticated engineering skills, and their willingness to work together as a technological team to develop their entries in the competition. “ In addition to saluting the students, I would like to thank the Robert Bosch Corporation, my fellow members of the Dorchester County Council, Trident Technical College , Dorchester School District 2, the mentors, parents, and the sponsors for this outstanding accomplishment. This is an excellent way to illustrate the collaborative success that we have found in our community to help develop a knowledgeable workforce for the future,” said Hargett.

The Councilman also noted that the community's effort to support sophisticated engineering training in the high schools would have an additional payoff as our County continues its growth and economic development. “ This is another example of the importance that our community places in the use of technology in our school system,” he added.

Mike Bryan, Team Leader for Team 342, noted “The local partnership was formed in 1999 with the objective of teaching essential workplace skills and to provide an avenue for the application of technology and academics in a practical, real world situation. Team 342, The Burning Magnetos, has provided a variety of learning experiences that will have the end result of creating a better prepared student for college and the community's workforce in the future.”

County Councilman Hargett also noted the immense satisfaction from the families at the awards ceremony. “ I talked to one parent who told me how pleased she was with the program as it helped to refocus her child's academic performance in school and changed the child's attitude toward academic excellence. This parent, like many others, was extremely positive about the program and hoped to see it expanded in the future,” said Hargett.

The FIRST Robotics Competition is an international engineering contest, which immerses high school students in the exciting world of engineering. The acronym FIRST represents For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. Teaming up with engineers from businesses and universities, students get a hands-on, inside look at the engineering profession. In six intense weeks, students and engineers work together to brainstorm, design, construct, and test their "champion robot." With only six weeks, all jobs are on a critical path with deadlines for specific task completion for each week. The team then competes in a spirited, no-holds-barred tournament complete with referees, cheerleaders, and time clocks. The partnerships developed between schools, businesses, and universities provide an exchange of resources and talent, highlighting mutual needs, building cooperation, and exposing students to new career choices. The result is a fun, exciting, and stimulating environment in which all participants discover the important connection between classroom lessons and real world applications.