While our students were hard at work hosting our FLL Explore festival, our parents and mentors were working hard in our buildspace, getting it ready for the season to start. After wear and tear from our swerve drive wheels (and all of the teams who played with us), we decided to swap our field carpet halves, moving the worn inside to the outer edge, hoping to improve longevity. This required us to completely disassemble and then re-assemble our field, providing the opportunity to tear down last season's field elements. We can't wait to get set up for the 2025 REEFSCAPE season!

Over the past eight weeks, Team RUSH has been mentoring twelve FIRST Lego League EXPLORE teams, preparing them for this very event. Welcoming two additional teams from Holy Family schools, we hosted  the official Clarkston FIRST Lego League EXPLORE Festival event, providing a chance for these kids to showcase their amazing progress, participate in student-led team building activities, and dare their minds in an engineering challenge provided by Challenge Island. In addition, FLL Challenge and FTC teams got a chance to demonstrate, while the FLL Explore kids saw what lies ahead. Team RUSH gave a robot demonstration. What an amazing way to round out our FLL Explore season!

The Mother-Son Fall-Festival allowed moms to spend time with their youngsters and Team RUSH was a highlight! Not only did they perform a robot demo, which included showing one of our favorite matches from our season: Michigan State Championship Match 13. We also demonstrated the actions of our robot. The drive team played a game where the robot would launch notes and we would catch them; the difficulty was increased slowly by catching the note with different items, such as a trash can and a pool noodle. It was great fun! After the demonstration, Team RUSH was available for autographs and photos with the robot! 

Bloomfield Hills, MI — Team RUSH attended the all-girls event known as Bloomfield Girls Robotics Competition in October. Here, our drive team and pit crew made of all girls had the chance to compete in the 2024 game. They came in excited to learn and try new things! The team placed 2nd in quals to be the 1st pick of Alliance 1, captained by Team 33, the Killer Bees and partnered with both Team 3538 RoboJackets and Team 201, The Feds. The girls had a terrific time thanks to all the teams and volunteers present. Team RUSH won the event, and even brought home a PURPLE banner to celebrate!

Instead of starting our season once we get our game, we here on Team RUSH start our season off early with our RUSH Retreat. We spend a full 24 hours (including a sleepover/campout on our field) together to get to know each other, have fun, and train for the upcoming season. To go along with FIRST DIVE, our theme this year was “Under the Sea.” Our facility was full of ocean decorations, including “sea water” drinks and beautiful coral decorations put together by our parents and volunteers. Thank you parents and volunteers for making our retreat so special!

Team RUSH LOVES to present to our sponsors and in October, the RUSH captains had the incredible opportunity to present to the Rotary Club of Clarkston! The captains shared insights about our team and the FIRST Robotics program, while also learning more about the strong support and community engagement that the Rotary provides. Thank you, Rotary Club of Clarkston, for believing in the future of STEM and for your continued support! Any sponsor that wants a presentation, reach out and let us know!

Kettering University, Flint, MI —  Team RUSH attended Day 1 of Kettering Kickoff with ambition and an incredible drive to learn. On this day, the team cycled through new drivers, introduced new members to competition life, and placed 16th after qualifications. As the 1st pick of Alliance 3, captained by Team 1506 Metal Muscle and partnered with Team 1684 The Chimeras, they were extremely successful and won the event. The team had a great time, cheering loud, driving strong, and representing Team RUSH amazingly!

Kettering University, Flint, MI — Team RUSH joined our 3rd off-season competition in Flint, Michigan. This was a special tournament where teams were able to choose their own alliances beforehand. Our team was able to practice before the tournament with our partners, Team 33, the Killer Bees, and Team 4362, the CSPA Gems. Our alliance's efforts paid off, entering the elimination bracket seeded as Alliance 1. We went on to win the tournament, bringing home the inaugural Kettering All-Stars WINNER banner!

Getting ready for the Kettering All-Stars, teams came from Mexico, Canada, Texas and of course, Michigan! While RUSH went up to the "practice day" at Kettering, some teams from Texas, FRC 148, and FRC 3005 needed some practice with their team ahead of time. To complete their alliance, Team 3538 (Auburn Hills) joined in so all 3 teams practiced in OUR HOUSE! We left the building open so they could practice, get some lunch and practice some more prior to going to the tournament. 

Fairmont, WV — WVROX was a twenty-six hour off-season tournament. This tournament was very different because we had to keep going through the whole day and night. During the competition, there were fun game modes like lights out matches, mentor Matches, and silent matches! This was a very exciting competition for improving our new drivers too. We ended in an alliance with Team 1640, Sab-BOT-age and Team 9475, Mon Valley Mammoths. We finished as semifinalists for the competition!

Everyone knows that you need to say thank you to your sponsors, so on the day AFTER the Regatta, all the students met to compose our thank you notes. Over 250 thank you notes were printed, signed and sent out in envelopes! Students learned the old fashioned skill of addressing an envelope and where to put the stamp! We love our sponsors and want to make sure they know that we truly appreciate all of their support! 

Every year, Team RUSH hosts a cardboard and duct tape boat race as an annual fundraiser and engineering challenge. For the first time ever, this year we had to wait an additional two weeks to compete due to all the rain and a contaminated lake, giving us more time to prepare! We also were able to meet virtually with other teams interested in how we fundraise, as well as offer training for our methods of boat building. On top of our own team fundraising, training, and teambuilding, we were able to raise enough money to travel out of state to a Regional!

To help celebrate this meaningful holiday, Team RUSH represented Clarkston’s high school robotics program in the 4th of July parade through downtown Clarkston. As we walked the parade route, we were seen by the hundreds of Clarkston residents who were able to come support our town's various organizations participating in the display. Happy 4th of July to all!

Taylor, MI —To kick off our off-season, Team RUSH attended Big Bang! 2024, hosted by Team 280, TnT. This tournament was the first tournament for many of our new students! Many of them learned how to drive, operate, scout, take pictures, and more! To get more experience, we sent TWO robots: our 2024 Competition Robot and our 2024 Practice Robot, affectionately named “Team FLUSH.” Our competition team (27) partnered with Team 3538 and Team 3175 in the finals, while our practice team (FLUSH) partnered with Team 503 and Team 4130. 27 ended up placing 5th, and FLUSH ended up placing 3rd. Thank you to TnT for hosting and to all that attended!

With RUSH camp under our belts, Team RUSH students took on the responsibility of leading our yearly summer camps for the youth of Clarkston! We overhauled our curriculum for a few of our camps this year, keeping topics and proceedings on the cutting edge to ensure campers get the best experiences. From 3D modeling, to lego robotics, to our brand new DRONE camp, find out more on our summer camps page! We can't wait to see you in the fall, and we can't wait to see you in the next summer camps.

 In June, Team RUSH kicks off an exciting new chapter as returning students and new members come together for the first time during RUSH camp. This week is all about building strong relationships and learning to work as a team. Through hands-on training in design, problem-solving, and the ‘FISH’ principles, students sharpen their skills and grow their confidence. By the end of the week, Team RUSH is not just better prepared for the challenges ahead—they’re a stronger, closer-knit team ready to take on anything!

We finished our season. Our seniors committed to their Colleges and Universities including: Michigan Technological University, University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Purdue, University of New Mexico, Oakland Community College, and Kettering University! We are so proud of you, we will miss your combined 34 years of experience!

Here is our team calendar documenting all events that we participate in. 

It includes team meetings, competitions and any other important dates.