Past Events

RUSH Conferences

From photography and social media to Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, and conference communication, students got an inside look at the creative marketing work that fuels Team RUSH. This experience highlighted how STEAM skills shape our impact on and off the field.

One Wednesday per month October and November, 2025

SUMMER PROJECTS

2023 Practice Bot Rebuild Project

Students on Team RUSH who wanted to apply their mechanical knowledge during the off-season participated in weekly meetings to create a chassis with an updated CAD model, utilizing parts from a scrapped chassis from the 2023 FRC competition.

Summer Drive & Pit Training

While students were rebuilding another chassis bot, students were also ready to develop the skills of robot driving, operation, and system checks. New students were introduced to the competitive RUSH spirit, while returning members hone their skills and have the opportunity to step up and take on leadership roles.

Summer 2025

Controls Alpha Testing For FIRST

Team RUSH was selected to participate in Alpha testing the new SystemCore control system! This system will be used by all FRC and FTC teams starting next Fall. Our programming team has been hard at work learning the new features of this system and reporting our findings to help make it better for everyone upon its full release. Each week, we test out new functionalities, with the ultimate goal of using it to control our 2025 robot at an upcoming offseason event!

August 13 & 20, 2025

Shop and Lathe Training

During Team RUSH’s off-season, training remained a top priority. A few of our dedicated mentors generously offered hands-on instruction to students on how to properly operate the lathe. Through this training, students learned how to machine parts accurately, which played a key role in building a project designed by a fellow student during CAD training.

August 13 & 20, 2025

Support to the Romanian FTC Team Alphatronic #24033

The beauty of the World Championships is meeting others. In Houston, 2025, we met the Alphatronics, and have had two zoom calls with them to discuss becoming a FRC team. With a 7 hour time difference, we are providing information and inspiration to get them into FRC!!

July 2025 - present

County Road Clean-Up

Each July, Team RUSH students, parents, and mentors volunteer to clean up a strip of road that our team adopted over 10 years ago! This year we had 10 students and 3 adults helping. We talk about how to safely and efficiently clean the road, then we spread out and begin!

July 19, 2025

Online CAD and Programming Training

This summer, we empowered both new and returning students through our CAD course. As the program progressed, we provided returning students with greater leadership opportunities, encouraging them to mentor and guide others. While the course was designed to be largely self-directed, we fostered a culture where students felt confident seeking support when needed.

With our students RUSHing to learn and grow, new opportunities emerged for our team members to step up as leaders. Returning members eagerly took the mantle, guiding the next generation by training them in the art of coding and preparing them for the challenges of the upcoming season.

Summer 2025

BAE Sponsor Visit

Even though the regatta has ended, Team RUSH continues to reach out to STEAM-based companies in our community! Our students recently visited BAE Systems to learn about their work in casting, communications, and engineering while learning about opportunities for a future in STEAM. Thank you to BAE Systems for welcoming us and supporting our mission to keep learning year-round! No photo due to photo release contract.

July 2025

Rainbow Rumble

To begin our off-season, Team RUSH attended Rainbow Rumble 2025, which was the first FRC tournament for our new students! Many of them learned how to drive, operate, scout, take pictures, and much more. Team RUSH was the alliance captain for alliance 2, picked Team 3641 and Team 302 and ended up in the semifinals! Team 27 Team RUSH ended up placing 3rd, won the Alumni award, and even received a student scholarship for team member Leila R. Thank you to all that attended!

July 26-27, 2025

RUSH Regatta

Every year, Team RUSH hosts a cardboard and duct tape boat race as an annual fundraiser and engineering challenge. This year, our teams not only raced against each other, but also against the rain! We were able to virtually meet with other teams that were interested in how we fundraise, and offered training for our methods of boat building. On top of fundraising, training, and teambuilding, we were able to raise enough money to travel out of state to a Regional!

July 12, 2025

4th of July

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 thousands of Clarkston residents who were able to come support our town's various organizations participating in the display. Happy 4th of July to all!

July 4, 2025

RUSH Summer Camps

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 the curriculum for several of our camps this year, keeping topics and activities on the cutting edge to ensure campers had the best experience. From 3D modeling to LEGO robotics, there was something for everyone. This year, we also added two brand-new camps: Design Lab and Earth Explorers, both generously led by Ms. Hughes! To find out more, visit our summer camps page. We can’t wait to see you this fall—and again at next summer’s camps!

June 16-19 & June 23-26

RUSH Camp

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!

June 9-13, 2025

RUSH Awards Night

Right before our seniors officially graduate from the team, we hold an award night to honor all of our amazing sponsors who have supported us over the season. Through speeches, we also honor our students for the time they put in, the parents for all their help, and our mentors for volunteering their time and knowledge to make our team thrive. Then we finish off the night with a friendly mentor roast and gifts for our mentors!

June 3, 2025

Senior Sendoff & Scholarships

Because of the hard work and dedication our seniors put in this past year, RUSH members have received over $1 million in scholarships to support their future as college students. These scholarships include full tuition, robotics competition scholarships, merit-based scholarships, and offers from universities.

May 16, 2025

Senior Signing

We finished our season. Our seniors are committed to their Colleges and Universities, including Harvard University, Michigan Technological University, University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Saginaw Valley State University, Oakland Community College, and Kettering University! We are so proud of you, and we’ll miss you!

May 20, 2025

Annual Senior & Robots Photo Shoot

Our seniors celebrated their journey with a special photoshoot featuring the robots, trophies, banners, and medals representing each year they’ve been part of Team RUSH. It was a meaningful way to honor their growth, accomplishments, and impact on the team.

May 2025

Girl Scouts STEM

After bringing STEM to young girls with the annual Maker Girl Mania event, Team RUSH was more spirited than ever to inspire young girls to be future leaders in STEM. By using First Lego League robots and handmade courses, RUSH students were able to help a local Girl Scout troop get their very own engineering badges!

May 17, 2025

World Championships

To conclude the 2025 season of REEFSCAPE, Team RUSH travelled to Houston, Texas, to compete in the FIRST World Championship. We played hard throughout our qualification matches and scored 18th place in the qualifiers. As the first pick of alliance #3, we joined teams 7028 and 3061 to compete through the playoffs. We made it all the way to match 13, where we met our unfortunate end. Our Team assisted in representing the Hall of Fame and offered samples of our toolkit for success to over 500 teams! Thanks to our sponsors, students, mentors, partners, parents, and alumni for believing in us.

April 16-19, 2025

Maker Girl Mania

Team RUSH returned to MakerGirl Mania, where hundreds of young girls explore STEAM through crafts and activities. Our students ran stations featuring FLL robots, FTC driving experiences, FRC demos and games, and more. It was a fantastic opportunity to spark curiosity, share our passion for robotics, and inspire the next generation of female STEAM leaders!

April 12, 2025

Michigan State Championships

Team RUSH fought hard at the DTE Foundation Championship, breaking the odd-year curse and bringing home a banner! After strong qualification matches, RUSH finished ranked 3rd and captained the #3 alliance with Teams 3539 and 7211. Together, the alliance powered through playoffs to win the DTE Energy field and advance to FiMstein, where they battled to match 5 before being eliminated. To top it off, Ameera A was recognized with the Dean’s List Award. Congratulations, Ameera!

April 3-5, 2025

Michigan Saline District Tournament

Team RUSH traveled to Saline for our second district tournament and third event of the season! We connected with teams, shared fundraising training invites, and handed out volunteer pins. RUSH earned the 2nd place seat and captained an alliance with 2137 Oxford Robocats and 6101 Strange Quarks. After a rematch with the #1 alliance, we finished as event Finalists. The team also earned the Engineering Inspiration Award, with Ameera A receiving the Dean’s List Award and Dennis Hughes recognized as our Woodie Flowers Finalist.

March 22-23, 2025

St. Louis Regional

Team RUSH traveled to St. Louis for our first Regional of the season! We kicked off the week by connecting with teams through pre-scouting, scavenger hunts, and sharing our RUSH toolkit samples. After a strong day of practice, RUSH went 9-1 in qualifications, earning the 1st place seat and captaining the top alliance with Teams 1706 and 1329. After a hard-fought playoff run and a rematch against Alliance 2, RUSH came out on top, winning the Regional and earning the Industrial Design Award for our unique and efficient robot design!

March 13 - 15, 2025

Michigan Kettering District Tournament

Back to Competition Season, finally! Team RUSH attended the Kettering University #1 FiM District event over the weekend for our first competition of the 2025 season. We placed 5th overall, being the first pick of Alliance 2 with teams 494 and 5150. After battling fiercely, we made it to the finals. Additionally, Team RUSH won the Gracious Professionalism Award.

Special to this tournament, our STEM school, Clarkston Science, Mathematics and Technology had a vist at Kettering and came to see us play!

February 28th-March 1st, 2025

RUSH Annual Showcase

At the end of our build season, we host an Open-House Showcase event to invite our sponsors, local community, friends, and family to learn about Team RUSH's history, our activity this season, unveil our 2024 competition robot, and much more! We are so thankful for everyone coming this year to learn lots about the team, the robot, and history. Time to get ready for the competitions now!

February 21st, 2025

Aerial Drone Competition

After months of practicing their flying skills and teamwork, 12 students formed 6 different teams, and competed with each other to score balls and bags into different colored zones. This year’s Aerial Drone Competition works very similarly to an FRC tournament, except with alliances of 2. Of our teams, all but one seeded into the top 10, and all were either picked to play or captained an alliance in the playoffs! 5 teams ended up finishing as quarter-finalists and 1 ended as a semi-finalist. We had a ton of fun, and are looking forward to next year!

January 25, 2025

FIRST Kickoff Events

Each year for the FRC Game Reveal, Team RUSH meets a couple hours before to teambuild and prepare for the incoming game. Around 11:30, we all head up to our school auditorium and watch it together with parents, students, alumni, and mentors. We then spend the rest of that Saturday, along with the coming Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday to form ideas, plan, and design our robot for the year! You can look forward to seeing our plans come to fruition at our Showcase or at Kettering #1 this February.

January 4, 2025

Team RUSH Holiday Party

Every year, Team RUSH holds a Holiday Party as a celebration of the holidays and an end to our year's pre-season training. We meet and eat together, then play a big round of White Elephant with our students, alumni, and mentors! Some of our favorite gifts this year included a life size cut-out of Detroit Lions Quarterback Jared Goff, as well as numerous items with prints of our head coaches head on them. We had a blast in 2024, and are excited for REEFSCAPE!

December 18, 2024

Team RUSH & Clarkston Holiday Lights Parade

Team RUSH doesn’t wait until kickoff to start training. As part of our pre-season, Team RUSH runs and builds a float for our annual Holiday Lights Parade! This year, our theme was Innovate and Illuminate. To represent this, we built a float themed around the innovation of space travel, with glowing stars and a rocket ship covered in Christmas lights! This year, our parade had 35 entrants. Thank you to our community for attending!

December 14, 2024

T-Shirt Launching at Clarkston Football Games

Over the summer, Team RUSH repaired and fixed their T-Shirt Cannon. At every football game and prep rally, some of our drivers and pit students took the robot up and launched T-shirts into our home crowd! Our older students used this opportunity to teach new students how to launch shirts accurately and drive safely through crowds. Each week, we needed to prepare shirts to launch. Thank you Clarkston for the opportunities and we hope you enjoyed our shirts!

Multiple Dates

Football Clean-ups

During Clarkston’s football season, our team goes out after our home games and cleans up the stadium. This helps our hardworking janitors and gives us excuses to be together as a team! The team splits up into groups to cover the grounds and runs out with trash bags, leaf blowers, and gloves to pick up trash. Then, once all the trash cans are empty and the grounds clean, the students grab some bags and race to the dumpster to throw them all away! Thank you Clarkston for the opportunity!

Multiple Dates

Team RUSH Field Improvements

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!

November 9, 2024

Clarkston FLL Explore Festival

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!

November 9, 2024

Mother & Son Fall Night of Fun

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!

November 2, 2024

Bloomfield Girls Robotics Competition

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!

October 19, 2024

Team RUSH Retreat

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!

October 4-5, 2024

Clarkston Rotary Presentation

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!

October 2, 2024

Kettering Kickoff

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!

September 21, 2024

2024 Kettering All-Stars Invitational

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!

August 9-11, 2024

Kettering All-Star Practice Host

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.

August 8, 2024

WVRoX

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!

August 1-3, 2024

Regatta Thank-Yous

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!

July 29, 2024

Team RUSH Regatta

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!

July 28, 2024

4th of July Parade

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!

July 4, 2024

Big Bang! 2024 Hosted by TnT

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!

June 28-29, 2024

RUSH Summer Camps

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!

June 17-20 & 24-27, 2024

Team RUSH Camp

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!

June 10-14, 2024

So Long Seniors

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!

May 27, 2024

World Championship

To conclude the 2024 season of CRESCENDO, Team RUSH travelled to Houston Texas to compete in the FIRST Championship. We played hard across our qualification matches, but didn't rank as high as we wanted. As the first pick of alliance #4, we joined teams 422, 910, and 1076 to compete through the playoffs. We made it all the way to match 13 where we met out unfortunate end. Our team took home the Team Sustainability award, completing our roster of winning EVERY major award at the world championship level now! Thanks to our sponsors, students, mentors, partners, parents, and alumni for believing in us.

April 17-20, 2024

Michigan State Championship

Michigan State Champions! Team RUSH took home GOLD again for the 4th time in our history, winning the Michigan State Championship. We battled our way through tough qualification matches to finish out at 3rd place. As the first pick of the #1 alliance, we joined 5712, 51, and later 4405 to compete on the Hemlock Semiconductor field, winning to advance to FiMstein where we won undefeated! Finn B took home Dean's List and we won our 3rd Excellence in Engineering award!

April 4-6, 2024

Troy #1 District

Team RUSH continued our streak in Troy Michigan for our 3rd competition this season. We also were featured on Game Day Robotics with sideline interviews. We finished qualifications rank #1 again, and captained the first alliance to be joined by teams 910 & 2960. A near undefeated record led our team to winning the event, the Excellence in Engineering award, and Finn B took home Dean's List Finalist.

March 22-24, 2024

Finger Lakes Regional

The team travelled to Rochester, New York for the 2024 Finger Lakes Regional! We had to much fun playing with teams from across New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, China, and Taiwan. Finishing qualifications rank #1, we captained the first alliance to be joined with 1591 and 578. An undefeated overall record won our team Finals 2 as well as we won the Industrial Design award!

March 13-16, 2024

Kettering #1 District

Back to Competition Season finally! Team RUSH attended the Kettering University #1 FiM District event over the weekend for our first competition of the 2024 season. With a near undefeated qualification record of 11-1, we were the rank #1 and captain of the first alliance. We were joined by teams 33 and 7784 to finish 3rd overall in Match 13 as well as winning the Excellence in Engineering Award!

March 1-2, 2024

2024 Team RUSH Showcase

At the end of our build season, we host an Open-House Showcase event to invite our sponsors, local community, friends and family to learn about Team RUSH history, our activity this season, unveil our 2024 competition robot and much more! We are so thankful for everyone coming this year to learn lots about the team, robot, and history. Time to get ready for the competitions now!

February 23rd, 2024

2023 Clarkston Holiday Lights Parade

For years, Team RUSH has hosted the Clarkston Holiday Lights Parade in downtown Clarkston for our town residents. With 32 entries in the parade, this was the largest parade in many years! With the theme of "Snowglobe Spectacular", entries ranged from snowglobe tents, dance teams, and more! Congrats to the winners of all the awards, listed above!

December 9th, 2023

2023 Bell AVR Championship

Team RUSH travelled down to Hurst Texas to compete in the Bell AVR Championship event for the second year in a row! With much resilience, the team overcame some of their technical issues, winning second place in addition to the Best Overall Design award for the second time. We are so thankful for all of our team's amazing AVR sponsors, as well as the event volunteers and everyone involved.

December 1-2nd, 2023

2023 RUSH Retreat

Some mark the beginning of their season at kickoff, or in January, we on Team RUSH instead begin each year with our RUSH Retreat! This is a 24-hour event (yes the students sleep over) filled with training, games, and fun! This year's theme was based on "The Greatest Showman", with carnival decorations, we thank the parents and other volunteers for making this event special for the team!

November 17-18th, 2023

2023 Bell AVR Grandville 11/11 Qualifier Win!

Team RUSH started competing in Bell AVR in 2022, where they won the Championship event. The weekend of 11/11, they did it again and won a qualifying event at Grandville Robotics Center! After 4 tough matches, an event high score, and the 2nd highest presentation score, they walked away with the win. This now qualifies the team for the Championship event in early December and we're searching for prospective sponsors to help the students attend

November 11th, 2023

2023 FLL Expo

Team RUSH mentors FLL Explore and Challenge teams throughout the fall, and this event is the Explore teams Exposition! 10 Clarkston-RUSH mentored teams in addition to 7 out-of-district teams met for the morning to show off their lego creations and projects to a panel of judges, practice team-building, and earn awards. Thank you so much to the volunteers and teams for making such a great day for us all!

November 4th, 2023

2023 West Michigan Robotics Invitational

For the final offseason event for Team RUSH, the team performed after lots of drivers practice to excel. After placing 3rd with an undefeated qualification record, they were first pick of alliance 2 (6081, 27, 7211, 6114). The team traversed the upper-bracket, playing 3 tough finals matches to win the whole event! Thanks to all the host teams and organizers for such an amazing event.

October 21st, 2023

2023 Kettering Kickoff

Team RUSH attended Day 1 of Kettering Kickoff with ambition and ferocious intensity. On this day, the team cycled through new drivers and placed 6th after qualifications. As the first pick of alliance 4 (5907, 27, 68), they made it extremely far, ending in the lower bracket finals. They had a great time, cheering loud, driving hard, and representing their team well!

September 23rd, 2023

2023 Goonettes Invitational

The Team was invited to attend the all-girls event known as Goonettes in September. Here, drive teams made of girls had the chance to compete in the 2023 game, learning how to drive for the previous weeks, they came in excited to drive and try new things! We placed 19th in quals to be 1st pick of alliance 7 (6081, 27, 1023, 6914). Our team's coach Mrs. Hughes also won mentor of the year award!

September 10th, 2023

2023 RUSH Regatta

Each year, Team RUSH hosts the community event known as the RUSH Regatta. While a cardboard and duct tape boat race to the public, it's also our teams main fundraiser, where students are challenged to raise the most funds, present their entrepreneurial efforts and engineering design of their boats to the judges, then head off at the races! Our team was able to raise over $50,000 this year thanks to all of our sponsors!

July 8th, 2023

Clarkston 4th of July Parade

To help celebrate this momentous holiday, Team RUSH represented the Clarkston robotics program in the 4th of July parade across downtown Clarkston. With a walking entry, we were seen by hundreds of Clarkston residents who came to support the towns various organizations walking in the parade. Happy 4th of July to all!

July 4th, 2023

Summer Camps 2023

For 2 weeks of their summer, Team RUSH high school students dedicated their time and energy to volunteering to lead 5 various summer camps. Those camps being FLL Explore, FLL Challenge, TinkerCAD Beginner and Advanced, and RUSHing Girls into 3d Printing and Lasercputting. This is always a highlight of the students summers as they get to create custom curriculum and implement it themselves in these camps!

June 19th-23rd, & 26th-29th, 2023

MakerGirl Mania 2023

Team RUSH once again participate in MakerGirl Mania, an event where hundreds of young girls come out to explore STEAM and have fun with various activities! Students from the team hosted multiple stations such as FLL robots, FLL Explore robots, FTC driving experience, and more! We are so thankful we're continuously able to impact our community and inspire STEAM in the younger generation, especially the girls!

April 29th, 2023

2023 World Championship | Week 8

For the World Championship in Houston Texas, the team travelled the drive by bus, arriving in Houston to be greeted by the Archimedes division. Here, the team played with some of the best teams in the world, finishing qualifications rank 37, and were picked by the #1 alliance on our field and the world! Despite the alliances early elimination due to robot malfunctions, this was the most memorable experience for some of the team members yet!

2023 Michigan State Championship | Week 6

After an amazing event on the west side of the state, Team RUSH attended the Michigan State Championship with high hopes after their great success last year. In the Ford division, Team RUSH finished quals ranked 9, to be the captain of alliance #6. Through many tough matches, the team was unfortunatly eliminated in the playoffs, but still had lots of fun! They also won the Innovation in Controls award here!

2023 West Michigan District Event | Week 4

For the team's third tournament of this season, Team RUSH went to the west side of the state for an appearance at the West Michigan District Event! This was the first time since 2011 that Team RUSH attended this event when in 2011 Team RUSH won with 3357 COMETS! For this season though, the team ended qualifications 4th, to be the first pick of alliance one with 3357 once again! The team won the event despite several tough matches, and won the Excellence in Engineering Award!

2023 Central Illinois Regional | Week 3

Team RUSH visited the state of Illinois for the Central Illinois Regional in Peoria. At this out-of-state event, the team learned many new things, drove extremely hard, and performed amazingly! After qualifications, the team ended rank 2, picking two other teams to join them in the playoffs. After many hard-fought matches, Team RUSH finished as event finalists and won the Sustainability Award again!

2023 Milford District Event | Week 1

This first week of the CHARGED UP! competition season, Team RUSH attended the Milford District Event. Here, they battled their way through 12 qualification matches, ending at rank 11, to be the first pick of 4362 on alliance #2. The team drove hard and placed 3rd overall at the event and also won the Sustainability Award. Overall, the team had so much fun, learned lots of valuable lessons, and met new people!

2023 Team RUSH Showcase Event

The team hosts a showcase event each year at the end of the build season to highlight our progress in the season so far. From our Inspiration Presentation, Programming and Media Highlights, and Mechanical Review, our students truly showcase their progress and passion in one evening!

2023 FRC Kickoff for Team RUSH

Team RUSH was totally CHARGED UP today as we kicked off the 2023 FRC season! Between many brainstorming sessions for our team, gracious volunteers building field components, more amazing volunteers feeding us snacks and meals, and alumni saying hello, this was a great time for all involved! We hope all the teams are energized and excited!

2022 RUSH Holiday Party

Team RUSH celebrated the upcoming holiday break with a night full of good food, people, and a fun gift exchange game. Many items such as stuffed animals, candy, and even a jar of pickles made an apperance in our gift exchange game. Thanks to all the parent support, the food was amazing, and we hope everyone had a great time at the party and over their holiday break!

2022 Clarkston Holiday Lights Parade

Team RUSH organizes the Clarkston Holiday Lights Parade each December to help gather the community and remind them of the importance of STEM. This year, The Cub Scouts won the best use of STEM award, learn more on this page!

Bell AVR Championship - December 3rd, 2022

Team 27A, Team RUSH's Bell AVR drone team placed 1st at the championship event in Arlington Texas. After 4 tough matches and a presentation, they won the event by 1 point! Earning them a private helicopter ride in Fort Worth TX. This was the team's first experience with "off -the-ground robotics", and while it was rocky at times, they performed amazingly and surpassed their goals!

FLL Explore Expo - November 12th, 2022

The FLL Explore Expo was an amazing event, with 11 RUSH sponsored/lead FIRST Lego League Explore (grades K-3) teams and 4 teams from Holy Family School from Grand Blanc, MI. These young students did a fantastic job presenting their projects to the Reviewers (Judges)

MAC 2022 - October 12th, 2022

Yet again, Team RUSH attended the Michigan Advocacy Conference in Lansing. Student representatives learned about why advocacy is important, how we can effectively advocate for STEM education funding, and more! Thanks to team 1718 for putting on this wonderful event!

RUSH Retreat 2022 - October 7-8th, 2022

Team RUSH began their season in full spirits with the RUSH Retreat, a 2 day event full of team building, leadership and communications trainings, and much more! RUSH students and mentors alike learned, practiced, and played with the help of mentors and a guest speaker, Mr. Peterson from Challenge Island.

Junior Robotics Re-Booted! - September 20&22, 2022

Team RUSH once again kicked off the 2022/2023 FLL Explore and Challenge seasons this week, brining in over 75 kids total, with high spirits, and very very excited kids! Between FLL Explore for 2nd and 3rd graders, and FLL Challenge for 4th and 5th graders, there was no lack of energy, enthusiasm, and excitement to once again, be able to play with robots!

Firefly Drone Shows Demo - September 21, 2022

Team RUSH has many amazing sponsors, one of them being Firefly Drones, a company that puts on events of hundreds of synchronized drones in the air to display images. Firefly invited the team out to their practice field to show us what they do, and how they involve robotics in every aspect of their company.

Watch the full drone demo flight here!

Kettering Kickoff - September 18, 2022

Team RUSH finished their offseason with Kettering Kickoff. With plenty of new students and high hopes, the team worked to place alliance 4 captains. Being first pick of alliance #1 meant they worked with teams 2337 and 5084 to place event quarterfinalists.

Indiana Robotics Invitational - July 15-17, 2022

Team RUSH students attended IRI with a partially new team, new drivers, and big goals. They drove strong going 9-5, being rank 7 and alliance captain 6. Working with teams 2075, 4535, and 7457, they placed event semi-finalists and had a lot of fun!

RUSH Regatta - July 9th, 2022

Team RUSH students brought their cardboard boats to Deer Lake to race against each other with the hopes of earning the coveted RUSH Regatta Cup Championship! This is our biggest fundraiser of the year, so if YOU would like to sponsor one of their boats, contact us!

RUSH Community Sponsorship Levels!

RUSH Summer Camps - June 20-23 & 27-30

Team RUSH students spent weeks developing curriculum in order to run more than 5 different summer camps for kids 1st-5th grade! The different camps involved a FLL, Jr Vex, 3d modeling beginner and advanced, and girls engineering. These self developed camps instilled our RUSH students with leadership qualities, as well as helping involved kids in our community in stem.

2022 Houston World Championships - April 20-23

This week, Team RUSH worked to compete their hardest at the competition! They entered in with creativity, inspiration, and tenacity in mind! They finished 9-5-0 on newton field, coming to an unfortunate end in the semifinals at rank 12. They worked with team 3339 as their first pick, then selecting teams 1787, and 114.

2022 Michigan State Championships - April 13-16

This week, Team RUSH worked hard to dominate the competition! They entered in with energy and tenacity, with the goals to do their best and win! Finishing 11-1 in qualifications, 6-0 in divisional playoffs, and 4-2 interdivisional playoffs to win the championship with teams 2337 and 5090! The team won the quality award in the Consumers Energy Division.

2022 Troy District Event - March 31-April 2

This week, Team RUSH strived to compete at week 5 Troy Athens District Competition! The team faced challenges and overcame them. Finishing qualifications 10:1:1, then becoming alliance #1 captain to pick team 67 HOT! Ending playoffs 5:1 to win! They also won the Excellence in Engineering Award.

2022 Greater Pittsburgh Regional - March 16-19

This week, Team RUSH entered the competition with unwavering confidence and support from their community. They came, they saw, they conquered. Despite multiple challenges and setbacks, this team absolutely rocked the competition placing 2nd in qualifications with a record of 10:1, then going on to be first pick of the #1 alliance, finishing elimination matches with a record of 5:0 winning the event! They also again won the Autonomous Award sponsored by Ford.

2022 Kettering University District Event - March 3-5

Team RUSH absolutely dominated the competition week 1 at Kettering University! The team faced and overcame challenges, stared adversity in the face, and pushed through. Finishing qualification matches 10:1:1 ranked #1, then going on to be undefeated in eliminations to win the event as alliance 1 captain! They also won the Autonomous Award sponsored by Ford.

2022 FIRST Game Reveal - January 8-9, 2022

This year Team RUSH came together to watch the 2022 FIRST game reveal of Rapid React! After learning about the new game, the team split up and became experts in the rules of the game and how it is played. The team then took some time to research past robots and games in order to understand more about to approach this year's game. The weekend was action-packed with a lot of team builders and brainstorming sessions. Team RUSH is back and ready to build another robot!

2021 Holiday Lights Parade - December 11, 2021

This past winter, Team RUSH once again teamed up with our community to put on the annual Holiday Lights Parade! This was our first parade in two years so we couldn't have been more excited to bring everyone together under the lights.

The theme was Toyland in C-Town and our parade entries did not disappoint! We saw everything from spinning Rubik's Cubes to toy wagons and had a super fun time despite the cold and windy weather.

2021 FLL Explorer expo - November 6, 2021

The FLL Junior Show Me event was a huge success, students had the opportunity to showcase their creations to judges and patents. Students also had the chance to see what the FLL and FTC challenges were this year. Every student got to go home with a medal and an award along with a smile on their face.

2021 Clarkston Robotics Programs: 9/21-11/21

Due to COVID-19, Team RUSH students have been restricted from holding in-person RUSH FLL Junior, FLL, & FTC fall camps for the past two years. Fortunately for us, we were able to start the programs up once again this fall and even include a new level of LEGO robotics: FLL discover! During these programs, RUSH students mentor small groups of young learners, teaching them all about LEGO robots, FIRST core values, and the engineering process.

FTC OCCRA Competition - 11/1/2021

This Fall, Team RUSH 27 helped run the OCCRA FTC Qualifier. We worked hard to allow brilliant kids to demonstrate the hard work they put into their FTC season. During this event, Team RUSH 27 students assisted in running matches, which included resetting the arena and being referees.

2021 RUSH Retreat - 10/23/21

Team RUSH students came together and learned how to work better as a team by participating in a variety of trainings and teambuilding activities this fall! We were incredibly relieved to be able to host this event once again.

2021 Kettering Offseason Invitational - September 18, 2021

Competitions are back! Team RUSH’s first competition since February 2020 happened on September 18, 2021 at the Kettering Invitational Kickoff event, a competition held and hosted at Kettering University, this year the game was Infinite Recharge. The game was first released in the 2020 season, and with what seemed like an infinitely long break due to COVID Team RUSH was able to recharge and come back as good as ever. RUSH took second place along with CowTown Robotics and Metal Muscle out of over forty teams. Team RUSH not only made this return to the stadium a success on the field, but also an enjoyable, action-packed, fun-filled weekend.

2021 RUSH Summer Camps - Week of 6/28/2021

This year, our RUSH Summer Camps for kids were the first step back to normalcy! Every camp was entirely student-led, allowing our amazing students to get a good amount of experience mentoring. As we got back into the groove, both counselors and students had the time of their lives, many of them sad that it had to end so soon. We look forward to seeing all of the campers again next summer.

RUSH organized and ran four different summer camps throughout the week of June 28 through July 1, 2021. The TinkerCad camp focused on learning how to operate a CAD program as well as how to 3D print designs. In the FLL and FLL Jr. programs students learned how to build and program their own robot using Legos. In the SPRK Robotics camp students got to program Team RUSH’s own Sphero robot balls to move around different obstacles.

Safety Training - Beginning 9/21/2020

As we prepare to start in-person meetings, we hosted our annual Shop Safety Training sessions online so all students on the team understand appropriate safety protocol in the machine shop.

Also, we held COVID-19 Safety Training sessions so everyone understands the additional safety expectations.

For both training sessions, students needed to take and pass an online quiz on the topics.

Career Development Training - Beginning 8/5/2020

Students joined Team RUSH’s Career Development Training! All who participated in these training sessions received resume building instructions, tips and tricks for interviews, mock interviews where participants can practice their craft, and an informational, professional panel. These online Zoom meetings were on August 5th, 12th, 19th, and the 26th from 7 to 8 PM.

Virtual "Clean Planet" Weekly Program - Beginning 7/22/2020

Introducing the brand new Clean Planet Program! RUSH led a free camp to teach about the environment, while still indoors. K-3rd graders loved this camp experience. We discussed problems in our environment and how we can help fix them. Our 4 weekly Zoom meetings were at 10 AM, starting July 22nd, and 13 students total attended.

July 22 - Global warming

July 29 - Fossil fuels & green energy

August 5 - Plastic & the ocean

August 8 - Deforestation

Virtual Summer Camps - Weeks of 7/13/2020 and 7/20/2020

To teach younger students about coding and 3D Modeling, we led Virtual RUSH Camps, which are our way of giving back to the community and to teach others about what we do as a team. We began camps involving CAD and block programming. All of these camps were held virtually. We want everyone to be able to make the most of social distancing by learning new skills. Across the two weeks, 7 students joined the Coding camp, and 12 students participated in the 3D Modeling camp.

Team RUSH at home challenges - July 1 through August 8, 2020

Due to COVID, Team RUSH created at home challenges for students and families of all ages and skill levels. There was a range of different challenges the community could choose from, including building a rocket out of LEGOs and building a Rube Goldberg machine with a group of people.

RUSH Camp - 6/15/2020 to 6/18/2020

Due to COVID-19, we were restricted from holding the in-person version of our annual RUSH Camp, a camp in the summer dedicated to the team’s members learning about the team itself, each other, and themselves. But, that did not stop us! Using Zoom, Team RUSH 27 met for six hours each day from Monday to Thursday from the comfort of our own homes. For example, one of our students led a fun team building challenge where groups got to recreate images using Google Sheets with pixel art! Returning and new students alike found delight in meeting as a team every day. The team essence of RUSH can never be lost!

Online National Advocacy Conference (NAC) - 6/13/2020 and 6/20/2020

Seven years ago, Team RUSH helped launch the annual National Advocacy Conference (NAC), where students lobbied for STEM reform in Washington, D.C. Over the years, more and more teams participated, so FIRST currently oversees the educational conference. Because of COVID-19, the event was online this year; some Team RUSH students participated! Through this two-day seminar, students learned about various topics: the different levels of advocacy, how to have successful meetings with political leaders, and how STEM reform relates to FIRST. Overall, the experience was very educational!

FIM District Kettering University Event #1 - 2/27/2020 to 2/29/2020

Our first competition of the 2020 season went extremely well. Team RUSH was able to partner with Team 2337 Enginerds, and Team 8386 Red Eye Robotics to win the Kettering University District Event. Team RUSH was also able to win the Excellence in Engineering award which is given out to the team which celebrates an elegant and advantageous machine feature. Overall it was a great tournament and we are excited to see where our season takes us.

Team RUSH Showcase - 2/21/2020

What is the showcase, you might ask? To answer simply, the showcase is a presentation hosted by Team RUSH students for parents, sponsors, seeking sponsors, alumni, and more. It’s a fun and beneficial event to show off what the team has been working on. For companies who are looking to sponsor Team RUSH, it’s a way to show why they should and how the sponsorship would help us. The showcase helps to train the students on communication skills as they are hosting the showcase. Sponsors are listed at the showcase, and nearly all other RUSH events. We are continually thankful for our sponsors past, present, and future.

Kickoff Weekend - 1/4/2020 to 1/5/2020

The Kickoff was an all weekend event that the students spent seeing, analyzing, understanding, and strategizing for the 2020 FRC game. This weekend was a great opportunity for the students to expand their knowledge on FIRST and their mission for this year. This time was also spent strategizing and discussing our game plan for the new game and what we want our robot to do.

Interested in more? Click here

Girls Scouts

Sixteen Brownie Scouts visited Team RUSH for a hands-on robotics adventure! They explored FTC robots, met the RUSH FRC robot up close, and dove into real engineering challenges. We’re excited that eight of these girls joined our RUSH Fall programs—the future of STEM is bright!

January 26, 2025

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