About the Team - Team 57 Leopards

Team Mentors and Student Members

Team History

2008-2009 season: The 2008-09 season was a very challenging one for the Leopards. FIRST introduced a new control system developed by National Instruments. The student programming team did a wonderful job learning LabVIEW and programming Big Cat 12. Team 57 competed at the Peach Tree and Lone Star regionals. At the Peachtree Regional in Atlanta, GA, Team 57 advanced to the quarrter finals. After design improvements, the team was able to advance to the semi finals at the Lone Star Regional in Houston, TX.

The Community Outreach sub-team's 2009 projects made a major impact at the school. The school revitalization project provided a community room where meetings are held and special guests are hosted. The sub-team enjoyed working with senior citizens at a local senior care facility. The team also continued its historical projects of mentoring FLL teams, hosting workshops for FRC teams, and volunteering at various robot competitions.

The marked achievement from the 2009 season was all graduating Team 57 seniors going to college and receiving numerous scholarships. Team coordinator Lucia Sevcik was recognized with a Mayor's Volunteers of Houston Award for her service with Team 57 following a nomination by one of the students from the team. The students also recognized one of their founding fathers by participating in a ceremony honoring Larry Marshall, HISD school board president and HSEP co-founder.
2007-2008 season: The 2007-08 season was a rewarding and successful season for the Leopards. The team celebrated its eleventh year in FIRST. Team 57 competed at the Phoenix Regional where they won the Chrysler Team Spirit Award and at the Lone Star Regional in Houston, Texas where they were the Regional Champions. Due to the great win at the Lone Star Regional the team earned a trip to the FIRST Championship in Atlanta, Georgia.

Students on the Community Outreach sub-team and Chairman's sub-team were busy with many projects. The team continued historical projects of mentoring rookie teams, toys for tots, volunteering at various robotics competitions, etc. The team also initiated several new community projects such as Project Kiva, Tools for Teams and Cans for Kids.

One of the proudest accomplishments of Team 57 in 2008 was the presentation to the Houston ISD School Board. The students show cased their robot to the school board and the superintendant. The goal was to show the importance of the FIRST program and the difference it makes in students lives. The school board and superintendant were very proud of the team's accomplishments.
2006-2007 season: The 2006-07 season was a very active year for the Leopards. The team met with principals of schools in North HISD and gave a presentation about the Kennedy Engineering Camp, an engineering-based camp begun in 2003 for students at Kennedy Elementary School. As a result of the Leopards' committment to this program and the benefits it has had at Kennedy, the engineering camp is now available for all North District elementary schools.

Team 57 students thanked their corporate sponsors for all their support during the FIRST season by presenting plaques and t-shirts to the sponsors once the 2006-07 season concluded.

The team competed at the Great Lakes Regional, where they were a semifinalist, and at the Lone Star Regional, where they not only were a finalist but also won the Johnson & Johnson Gracious Professionalism award and the Sportsmanship award.
2005-2006 season: The 2005-06 season was a very challenging one for the Leopards. Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast and impacted the lives of many people. The Community Outreach team helped get food and clothes for Hurricane Evacuees that were relocated to Houston. The most daunting challenge for the team was that it was not able to start building the robot until week 4 of the build time. This was due to our machine shop sponsor being affected by Hurricane Katrina. The robot was shipped in pieces to the first regional event.

The Leopards persevered and finished building the robot at the Great Lakes Regional. With a lot of hard work and dedication, the team overcame the challenge and went on to win a judge award at the Great Lakes Regional and a judge award at the Lone Star Regional.
2004-2005 season: The 2004-05 season was very successful for the Leopards. The team traveled to the Great Lakes Regional where they won the Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Entrepreneurship Award and the Engineering Inspiration Award.

At the Lone Star Regional the team seeded third place and won the Delphi "Driving Tomorrow's Technology" and Safety Awards. The team then traveled to the Championship event in Atlanta, Georgia where they competed very well.

The whole season climaxed with a visit from the Marine Troop stationed in Iraq that the team supported with letters and care packages. The students and marines had a great time at the luncheon held in May 2005.
2003-2004 season: The 2004 Leopard team welcomed the challenge of the 2004 FIRST competition, "FIRST Frenzy". The team of 30 student members, 10 engineer mentors and 3 school sponsors built a robot that conquered the "high bar". The robot, Big Cat V, competed at the Great Lakes and Lone Star regional events and at the Championship competition in Atlanta, Georgia. Big Cat V was a member of the winning alliance at the Lone Star Regional.

The 2004 Chairman's Award and Community Outreach sub-teams participated in many community outreach programs and a new innovative project incorporated this year. Students from Team 57 partnered with Booker T. Washington Special Olympics students, meeting twice each week using the EARLY robotics program as a learning tool. Team 57 students mentored the Special Olympic students who built a robot from a Lego Simple Machines kit. Once the robots were built, the students raced them through an obstacle course. The Special Olympics students that participated in the program said it was a great experience. The hard work of the Chairman's Award and Community Outreach sub-teams reaped its rewards at the Great Lakes and Lone Star regional events. The Leopards won the DaimlerChrysler Team Spirit Award at both events.

The team's graduating seniors began pursuing further education at MIT, the Naval Academy, University of Texas, University of Houston, Vanderbilt, and Colorado School of Minds. These students were offered over $600,000 in scholarships to these fine institutions.
2002-2003 season: This season began with an unexpected challenge - Halliburton/Kellogg-Brown & Root, the machine shop sponsor since the team's inception, was not able to host the team at its facility. Hydraquip, another team sponsor, graciously stepped forward and offered a space at its facility.

The Leopards team, comprised of 40 student team members, 12 engineer mentors and 4 school sponsors, were energetic and ready to embrace the 2003 FIRST Competition Challenge. The team competed in the robot, Chairman's Award and AutoDesk Inventor competitions at the Arizona and Lone Star Regional competitions and at the FIRST Championship event held in Houston, Texas.

The Chairman's Award and Community Outreach teams worked hard during the off-season. These teams participated in the Robot Circus exhibit at Space Center Houston that highlighted FIRST Robotics, organized an Engineering Camp for students at Kennedy Elementary, showcased the robot at numerous corporate and community events in Houston, attended the Society of Petroleum Engineers event in San Antonio, and participated in an educational forum at the World Space Congress event at the University of Houston main campus.

The Leopards were very proud of the news that the PBS Documentary, "Wit, Grit and Robot Games" documentary received an Emmy Award.

The team was also very proud of its 14 graduating seniors. These Leopards were offered a total of 1.5 million dollars in scholarships and set out to continue their higher education, many in engineering, at some of the top colleges in the nation.
2001-2002 season: The team consisted of 46 student team members, 15 engineer mentors and 5 teacher mentors. The Chairman's Award and Community Outreach sub-team members participated in many projects during the season. These two sub-teams showcased the robot at the "Boeing's Bring Your Child to Work Day", attended the annual ASME Crawfish Boil, mentored two rookie teams and, in collaboration with Space Center Houston, prepared a demonstration display and provided a previous year's robot for an exhibit that would highlight FIRST Robotics.

The Build sub-team arrived at the KBR machine shop with increased numbers. The Build sub-team members took charge of designing, constructing and debugging the robot under the guidance of the engineer mentors from ExxonMobil, Hydraquip and Powell.

The Leopards were set to compete at the Kennedy Space Center and Lone Star regional competitions and the FIRST Championship competition. The team celebrated their winning of the Engineering Inspiration Award at the Lone Star Regional.

The Leopards made their television debut with the release of PBS's "Wit, Grit and Robot Games" in April. A premier party was held for the team at the Houston PBS studios. A fun evening was enjoyed by all!

The greatest accomplishment was that 14 senior team members graduated to pursue their dreams at some of the most prestigious colleges in the U.S., most in engineering. These students were offered a total of $800,000 in scholarships.
2000-2001 season: The new year brought a Leopards team that would embrace challenges and experience accomplishments. The remaining founding team members were gone leaving only 10 veteran team members to teach 26 new recruits. The team made a decision to compete at the Kennedy Space Center and the Lone Star Regional events as well as at the National Championship in Orlando, Florida. The season started with a bang! Team 57 was one of three teams chosen to participate in a documentary produced by PBS, tracking the team's progress, pitfalls, and perseverance.

The 26 new recruits didn't pose the challenge everyone thought they would to the experienced 10 team members. The veterans faced this challenge in stride. These courageous students led by example, filtered out the inexperience of the new recruits and rose to great heights.

Under the guidance of the veteran team members, the rookie drivers, rookie pit crew, and chairman's award team brought home a 1^st place win from the Kennedy Space Center regional. These same "Courageous Ten" led the team to place 3rd out of 41 teams at the Lone Star Regional and came home with a #1 Seed trophy. With these accomplishments under their belt, the mighty Leopards were on their way to the National Championship in Orlando, Florida.

The bright lights, cameras and blazing microphones of the PBS crew did not phase the courageous Leopards at the National Championship. This tireless team of 36 student members, 8 engineer mentors, and 2 teacher mentors placed 10^th in their division at the National Championship. These wonderful people brought honor to their school and corporate sponsors, but their success was not over yet.

In April of 2001, the team received a call from Texas Governor Rick Perry's office inviting the team to visit the capital. On April 16^th, the team was whisked away on a bus to Austin, Texas where they were greeted by State Representative Ken Yarbrough. Representative Yarbrough recognized the team's accomplishments and introduced the Leopards to the 77th Texas State Legislature. After visiting with legislative members the team had the honor of visiting with Governor Perry. The governor showed that he was genuinely concerned with the education of our youth by signing a proclamation declaring April Math Awareness Month. Governor Perry tried his hand at driving the robot, missing on the first try, but succeeding on his second try.

The season concluded on a positive note and seven more Leopards team members went on their way to college, having been offerered a total of half a million dollars in scholarships.
1999-2000 season: Team 57 transformed into the Leopards and reestablished themselves as a "team to be reckoned with". The team was fortunate enough to welcome two new sponsors into the fold: Hydraquip and Walter P. Moore. The team had yet another new challenge on the horizon. The departure of their oldest founding team members to start their new life at college left Team 57 with several rookies who didn't have the knowledge of what it takes to make a great FIRST team. The other returning team members took the rookies under their wings and showed the new arrivals what it takes to be a winner. The established corporate sponsors did the same.

The Leopards were ready for a new challenge presented by FIRST. A regional event was reestablished in Texas with the help of ExxonMobil and Halliburton, two of our own team sponsors. The Leopards arrived at the 2000 FIRST Lone Star Regional ready to compete. The team competed against 35 other teams and finished 8th overall.

At the National Championship, the team reestablished its reputation as a professional, enthusiastic opponent and showed itself to be one of the most popular teams in the nation. The team placed in the top 25% out of 250 teams, and graduating student team members were offered a total of 1.7 million dollars in scholarships to major universities. It was a great year!
1998-1999 season: In 1999, ExxonMobil and Halliburton/Kellogg-Brown & Root continued to be our major sponsors and were joined by a new sponsor, Powell Electrical.

The team faced new challenges this year. The FIRST program at Booker T. Washington and the High School for the Engineering Professionals was so successful that the team experienced a rapid growth in size and enthusiasm. Team 57 now consisted of 25 students and 10 engineer mentors. Team 57 did a wonderful job building a competitive robot, creating an animation, and documenting the team's history in a video. With all of these accomplishments, there was one major obstacle to overcome; FIRST did not have a regional event in Texas in 1999, so Team 57 had to travel to another regional competition.

A last minute decision was made by the team to compete at the Kennedy Space Center Regional in Cocoa Beach, Florida. A skeleton crew was sent to Kennedy Space Center to represent Team 57. Although the team consisted of only 12 representatives, it was very successful, placing 8th out of 35 teams at the regional event.

With this success under their belts, Team 57 prepared for the 1999 national competition in Orlando, Florida. The 1999 FIRST National Championship experienced growth also. The Tigers reached the national competition only to find out there were 229 other teams vying for 1st place. Team 57 was up for the challenge and finished once again in the top 25% overall. In addition, the Tigers were recognized by other teams as having the best team mascot and team theme.

The student members of Team 57 brought honor to the team with their educational accomplishments. Seven graduating seniors were offered a total of 1.5 million dollars in scholarships to major universities across the United States.
1997-1998 season: The Booker T. Washington and High School for the Engineering Professions FIRST Robotics team, a.k.a. Team 57, began in 1998. NASA/Johnson Space Center, ExxonMobil, Halliburton/Kellogg-Brown & Root, and Boeing were the founding sponsors for the team. The team consisted of 17 students and 6 engineers from ExxonMobil. They initially chose the Tigers to be their team name and mascot.

The team competed at the Southwest Regional held at Space Center Houston and placed 7th out of 22 teams. After the Southwest Regional, the team traveled to the FIRST National Championship competition held at the Epcot Center at Disneyworld . The team was the #1 rookie seed at the end of the first day at the national competition and finished in the top 25% overall.