CFSD Robotics Teams Rock the Arizona FIRST Lego League State Championship! 🏆

CFSD robotics teams dug deep in the FLL "Unearthed" season—and struck gold at the state championship with all four teams scoring in the top 14!

What happens when you combine 285 teams, one archaeology-themed robot challenge, and some seriously talented CFSD students? Pure robotics excellence!
Last weekend at ASU West Campus, the top 67 FIRST Lego League (FLL) teams from across Arizona gathered for the state championship after advancing from regional tournaments. And CFSD? We showed up in a BIG way.
All four of our CFSD teams scored in the top 14 for robot performance. Out of 285 teams statewide, our students absolutely crushed it.

Team 5158 Glyph Gang - 3rd Place Overall + 3rd Place Robot Design Award 🏆
The Glyph Gang delivered a perfect run—completing every single mission in just 2.5 minutes for a flawless score of 420 points. That's robotics perfection, folks!
Team Members: Sebastian Bonomolo (Orange Grove), David Bui (Orange Grove), Lucas Byrne (Orange Grove), Max Hao (Orange Grove), Graham Martin (Orange Grove), Elise Peterson (Orange Grove), Aaheli Shil (Orange Grove)
What Is the Robot Design Award?
The FIRST Lego League Robot Design Award recognizes teams with the most solid, innovative, and well-programmed robot, focusing on sound mechanical principles, efficient coding, creative solutions, and a robust, reliable build that performs consistently. It celebrates the whole design process, not just complexity, rewarding a team's understanding of engineering, problem-solving, and effective strategies for tackling the season's challenge missions.

Team 5156 Cool Corps - 9th Place (360 points)
Team Members: Damon Hayden (Orange Grove), Nicholas Huttenhoff (Sunrise Drive), Kodi Iatarola (Sunrise Drive), Nathaniel Musil (Esperero Canyon), Jackson Smith (Orange Grove), Brendan Sult (Orange Grove), Cillian Walsh (Orange Grove)

Team 5155 Rock Stars - 13th Place (340 points)
Team Members: Lucian Calvert (Orange Grove), Adam Elitzer (Manzanita), Hartley Emms (Orange Grove), Marshall Hayden (Sunrise Drive), Turner Jason (Orange Grove), Kaveh Parseghian (Sunrise Drive), Charlie Teeple (Sunrise Drive), Connor Yau (Orange Grove)

Team 27725 Fragment Finders - 14th Place (335 points) + Motivate Award 🏆
Team Members: Ishwari Bandopadhay (Sunrise Drive), Jotham David (Sunrise Drive), Aiden Pires (Sunrise Drive), Amelie Puell (Sunrise Drive), Theodore Thome (Sunrise Drive), Daniel Trombetta (Sunrise Drive), Opal Vinal (Sunrise Drive), Ethan Xue (Sunrise Drive), Melody Yu (Orange Grove), Ethan Dockins (Ventana Vista)
What Is the Motivate Award?
The FIRST Lego League Motivate Award recognizes a team that embodies the spirit of FIRST through exceptional teamwork, enthusiasm, and positive engagement. It celebrates teams who understand the importance of fun, inclusive team building, and spreading the excitement of STEM to their community. Only two Motivate Awards were presented at the state championship, and the Fragment Finders earned one of them! The Fragment Finders didn't just build an amazing robot—they inspired others and demonstrated gracious professionalism every step of the way. That's what FIRST is all about!

The Dream Team Behind the Teams
None of this would be possible without our incredible coaches and mentors:
Team Coaches: Charlotte Ackerman and Nancy Hsiao
CFHS Student Mentors: Nathan Wu, Ethan Lin, Christian Pierson, and Owen Cantor-Goldner (members of the Pioneer Robotics Club and FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) team)
These high school students are paying it forward, mentoring younger students and showing them what's possible when you combine passion, persistence, and teamwork.
Community Schools: Travis Kolter, Debbie Ross, and our entire Community Schools team keep our afterschool programs like FLL humming!

What's Next?
While the FLL season wraps up, our CFSD robotics community is just getting started. These students are building skills in programming, engineering, problem-solving, and collaboration—skills that will serve them throughout their lives.
To our robotics teams: You represented CFSD with skill, spirit, and heart. We couldn't be prouder of you!
To our coaches and mentors: Thank you for investing your time, energy, and expertise in our students.
And to our families: Thank you for supporting these amazing young engineers every step of the way.