MASON, Mich. — Mason High School's robotics team, better known as the Tractor Nation, finished 15th overall at the state competition, which earned them a place in the world championship in Houston.
"It's been a great season to start off with. It was a season of lots of firsts for our program and things we're hoping become new normal in the program itself. This was the highest we've ever finished in the state tournament," said team mentor Ben Shoemaker.
Sammie Brazaski, a Mason High School student and Tractor Nation team member, is a lead electrician and a part of the award-winning team.
"I'm very excited to go to worlds mainly to hang out with my team and meet a bunch of different people from all over the world. But, I'm also excited to see how our robot will do and work on it a little bit," said Brazaski.
However, the mantra for this team is "it's more than just robots." The program helps student build life skills in other areas including social media, accounting, business planning and fundraising.
"We're really trying to develop kids that have a wide variety of skills for employers to get access too, and that's where our corporate sponsorships come into play. We look to partner with local manufacturing and local industry," said Shoemaker.
By partnering with local businesses, it gives students a chance to make connections with future employers. Parker Corbett is another member of Tractor Nation that realizes the importance of building connections with local business owners.
"Behind us and on the ceiling are sponsors who have said 'okay this is why we think you're a good sponsorship' and a lot of them one day us students might end up working there, so it's kind of a mutualistic relationship, where they fund us, and then one day, we make them better," said Corbett.
The tractor technicians will be competing against 619 teams from all across the globe.
The FIRST Championship is from April 19-22 in Houston.
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