About Team 181

Students in Hartford Public Schools have been participating in FIRST since 1997. Mentored by engineers from Pratt & Whitney, teachers, and community volunteers, the team has won 24 prestigious regional and national awards.

In 2003, the Birds of Prey moved out its Nest in Hartford Public High School to their own space in the Parkville area of Hartford, CT. This gave the team a chance to open up the FIRST experience to students from ALL of the Hartford public high schools. This year we have students from Bulkeley High School, Hartford Public High School, Pathways to Technology, University High School, and Weaver High School.

The real success story for the Birds of Prey is that 24 out of 26 robotics team members between 2001 and 2005 are attending college, most of them in engineering or science related programs. Also, more than one D average student has been converted to the honor roll in a year's time. Three current mentors for the team attended Hartford Public High School and are now engineers at Pratt & Whitney!

FIRST team members attend Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Rochester Institute of Technology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Bentley College, Central Connecticut State University, University of Connecticut, Trinity College, University of New Hampshire, University of Hartford, Union College, William and Mary College, Manchester Community College, Howard University, Sacred Heart University, Capital Community College, Columbia University, Albright College, Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, and Kansas State University.

FIRST redefines winning. Teams are rewarded for excellence in design, demonstrated team spirit, gracious professionalism and maturity, and the ability to overcome obstacles. Scoring the most points is a secondary goal.

Team 181 at the Bash @ the Beach 2006

2007 Season Summary

This past season was a great accomplishment for the team with many memories to remember. Team 181 started out the season rather rough then we had first predicted. We went to the UTC Scrimmage with no robot at all. Also, when we finally did have a robot for the UTC Regional at the Convention Center in Hartford, CT, we performed poorly. However, throughout all the hardships, we kept plugging away at ideas on how to make our Robot better and before we knew it, we came home with our 1st regional win for the team during the Philadelphia Regional at Drexel University. With that win we were invited to the National Championship in Atlanta, GA. This was a great experience for the entire team (minus the 18 hour bus ride) because most of us had never been to Atlanta before. During the championship, there are 4 division which you are assigned to. Our team was apart of the Newton division and we placed fairly well. We made it all the way to the quarter finals until we were knocked off by our opposing Alliance. After the big championship, we still participated in two more smaller competitions. One was the Beantown Blitz in Boston, MA. We not only came out as winners in that competition, but we also won the Knock Your Sox Off award for tremendous spirit in our team. The last competition that we took part of was Bash at the Beach in Old Lyme, CT which we finished in the semi-finals. We also won the Coolest Trick award for using out Robot to drive Max MacKinnon around the field with his skateboard. In conclusion, Team 181 finished the year off as a great team, with a lot of spirit as we do every year and can't wait for another great year in 2008. GO TEAM 181!

This site was last updated 02/08/08.