Woodland’s 5458 Digital Minds robotics team wins awards at both regional competitions – Daily Democrat

Last month, Team 5458: Digital Minds, a local all-inclusive robotics club made up of and open to Woodland area high school students, finished off a successful season, winning a prestigious award during both of the FIRST Robotics regional competitions they participated in.

Accoridng to a local press release, Digital Minds began the season at the FIRST Sacramento Regional, held at Pleasant Grove High School in Elk Grove. Team 5458 won nine matches during the competition and was picked to join the fifth seated alliance alongside teams 2551 Penguin Empire and 3257 Vortechs.

On this alliance, Digital Minds advanced to the last match of the semifinals, ranking 10th out of 38 teams. After showcasing its robot to event judges, Digital Minds was also awarded the FIRST Creativity Award in recognition of its use of magnets to enhance its robot’s performance.

Digital Minds also competed in the Aerospace Valley Regional, which was held at Eastside High School
in Lancaster, California. After winning 10 competition matches, Digital Minds ranked fifth out of 40 competing
teams.

As a result, the team was made captain of the third seated alliance and invited teams 1515 Mortorq and 968 RAWC (Robotics Alliance Of West Covina) to join their alliance as they moved on to the semifinals.

At the Aerospace Valley Regional, Digital Minds was honored to receive the FIRST Judge’s Award. This award is given when judges decide that a team’s unique efforts, performance or dynamics merit recognition.

Digital Minds received this award in recognition of, as stated by the judging panel, their “total commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging,” as demonstrated through the “accessible pipeline” they created to “normalize female involvement throughout STEM.”

The teams participate in the FIRST competitions, or For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, run by an international non-profit organization that has been providing students with STEM education and opportunities for over 30 years. With mentor-based programs, FIRST aims to teach students technical and leadership skills to make them leaders in technology and innovation.

To cap off the year, on May 25, Digital Minds will hold its first Women in STEM Empowerment event at the Woodland Public Library’s Leake Room from 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

During the event, the team will offer hands-on STEM activities, such as extracting DNA from strawberries to Woodland youth in the third through the eighth grades. According to a local press release, the event aims to create a safe space for young girls to explore and get excited about STEM while normalizing girls being in scientific spaces alongside boys.

Following this initial event, Digital Minds will hold Women in STEM Empowerment events monthly at the library, located at 250 First St. Participation is completely free.

Those interested are encouraged to fill out the following interest form at bit.ly/MayWISEevent2024.

Parents and students in Woodland and surrounding communities can contact the team at team5458.com/contact/.