— By Andrew Cozzens
Physics, Chemistry & STEM Teacher
Falmouth High School

“The Falmouth High School Robotics Team , the Regal Seagulls Team 10254, is having a very exciting season so far. We captained the second-place alliance at the competition at the New England FIRST event in March, a significant improvement even in comparison to last year’s strong start!”

Regional Competitions

At the University of Rhode Island (URI), the team ranked 5^th out of 32 teams in qualification matches, making it to eliminations as Captains of Alliance #4. In a stunning victory over two higher ranked alliances, we made it to the Finals, ultimately placing second among the 8 alliances!

At Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), where competition was fiercer, we ranked 5^th out of 39 teams in qualification matches. We were selected by the captains of Alliance #3 as their first pick, and we ultimately placed third in the finals.

The students did exceedingly well in both competitions. We won the Rising All-Star Award (for a young team with strong growth) at URI, and the Autonomous Award (for a team with the best play during the 20-second period at the start of each match where robots autonomously execute student-written code, with no human piloting) at WPI. Both awards were hard-earned; one of our seniors, Ethan Parmentier, spent many hours writing and testing code to ensure that our autonomous period was flawless and consistent.

With these successes, the team will be headed to the 2026 New England District Championship, this time ranked 15^th out of New England’s 200 teams, a significant improvement from last year. New England FIRST has contacted us to inquire about our plans should we rank highly enough for admittance to the FIRST World Championship in Texas! (Yeah!) which appears to be a distinct possibility.

Our success has not gone unnoticed by the broader FIRST community. Sam Irving, our Instagram content manager, tells me that the FUN Robotics Network named Team 10254 as an honorable mention in their “FRC Top 25” — 25 teams to watch selected from the entire world (watch the segment here).

The Team

What has enabled the Regal Seagulls to enjoy such an impressive second season? The first factor, of course, is the generosity and engagement of the broader community which makes our participation in FIRST possible at all. The Cape Cod Regional STEM Network through the Ernest Michael Helides and Evelyn Ponticos Helides Education Fund of The Cape Cod Foundation, and the Falmouth Education Foundation have generously provided for the team’s registration (including its two regional events and the upcoming District Championship), our kit of parts, and an array of tools and supplies to help build the robot and outfit our pit at competitions.

A fundraising operation helmed by Carmela Mayeski, Sam Irving, and Ginny Irving (Sam’s mother) has helped to find additional sponsors, whose donations have enabled the team to stay in hotels for each competition — rather than driving back and forth each day, as we did last year — and will in the future ensure the continued sustainability of the team’s finances as we grow.

Another factor is the enthusiasm and dedication of the students themselves. The team consists of 14 students this year, nearly triple the competition team from last year. Many have spent well over 10 hours per week in the lab during the competition season (we have been meeting regularly for 5 hours on Wednesdays, 3 hours on Thursdays, and 4 hours on Saturdays, with some extra sessions on Mondays and Tuesdays as the season heated up), and our coding team has spent hours beyond that endlessly simulating the robot on their computers (as in this simulation, where students discovered their targeting software inadvertently programmed the robot not to turn towards the goal, but to orbit in an endless circle around it!).

The students have become tremendously invested in the program, which is what has enabled it to grow so rapidly. From staying after school to fundraise with the Night of Robotics, to helping promote the team on Instagram and to potential sponsors, to passing on their expertise and experience to younger students on the team, our students have worked incredibly hard and have earned all of the success they’ve found this season.

And the third piece of the Regal Seagull success has been our amazing mentors. We are up to eight (8) professional mentors this year, including several professional robotics engineers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and three with extensive FIRST experience, who have donated tremendous time and expertise to Team 10254. Their guidance has made possible the exceptional season that this year’s team has enjoyed, and puts us on track for continued expansion and improvement going forward.

The Future

With the Regal Seagulls’ strong performance in their two regional competitions, we are now preparing to go to Springfield for District Championships next week. We are also exploring funding options for the FIRST World Championship, in the event that we are invited. While we learned from last year to anticipate the possibility of Districts, we were taken by surprise to find Worlds seems within reach — a good problem to have!

Next year, we hope to focus on building a sustainable, year-after-year financial base. This will involve creating a 501(c)(3) booster club to enable more efficient funding, securing repeat sponsors from this year into next, seeking out potential new sponsors, and running more fundraisers for the team (e.g., organizing a profitable Clipper Clash, holding a second annual Night of Robotics, or operating a water stop for the Cape Cod Marathon). We hope that our strong performance this year will encourage sponsorships, both locally and from within the FIRST community.

We also intend to continue building community awareness of the team. Our students consider the Robotics Team a significant draw for Falmouth High School — I have heard from several parents that it was a factor, even the decisive factor, in choosing Falmouth High School over its competitors for their children. Further, we are privileged to be in the unique position of having the only FIRST Robotics team on Cape Cod. We want to ensure that people know about us! This will be accomplished through community events like the Clipper Clash off-season event (which, due to being scheduled on the same date as a popular established event, did not take place this year — we have spoken to New England FIRST and now understand how to prevent this from happening next year), Night of Robotics and similar community events, and support of the nascent FIRST LEGO League team at North Falmouth Elementary School (the Regal Seaglettes).

Overall, the FHS Robotics Team has exceeded my highest expectations. When Carmela and I wrote our first grant proposal two years ago, I could never have imagined that a team of a dozen dedicated students and half a dozen professional mentors, building robots that rank above the ninetieth percentile in New England, would be the result in just two years. I am incredibly impressed with our students, incredibly indebted to our mentors, and incredibly grateful to our sponsors who have equipped our team and covered our registration fees. Thank you!

Photos: 1) ROAR-E The Robot!; 2) FHS Robotics Team – The Regal Seagull; 3) “A Win for the Team!” (Photos Credits: A. Cozzens; FIRST Robotics; NE FIRST)