The Beginning

Late in November 2010, Jennifer Leach, 4H Youth Development Faculty (and Longview School Board member) approached Bob Koenig, CTE teacher for the Longview School District, asking if he’d be interested in organizing and coaching a FIRST robotics team to compete in the 2011 FIRST Robotics Competition. He said yes and started recruiting team members and mentors. There was little time to get organized as the “build season” kicked off January 8, 2011. Bob did all recruiting by word of mouth. He talked with students in his classes and contacted professional adults in the community. It was unbelievable how fast the word got around and soon people were contacting Bob for information. The initial team had 8 adult mentors and 4 adult supporters with 20 interested students from R. A. Long and Mark Morris High Schools. On Saturday morning, January 8, 2011 the team climbed on the bus at 6:00AM to attend the 2011 FRC kickoff. Three additional students showed up at the bus asking if they could be a part of the team! Everybody making up the team had little knowledge of FIRST or the extent of the competition. What a start. The team built a robot in the allotted 6 week period. By the end of the season there were 17 official team members and 12 adult mentors, they competed in the Logomotion game at the Seattle Cascade Regional.