Senator Oberacker meets with Team 145 T-Rx at the MVP Arena in Albany during the NY Tech Valley FIRST Robotics Competition. From left, Sherburne-Earlville Advisor Jonathon Ryan, Lucas Donato, Kristopher Laymon, Brandon Davenport, Max Collins, Bradley Bateman, Brayden Smith, Senator Peter Oberacker, Kyler Paul & Mentor David Paul. (Submitted photo)

ALBANY — State Senator Peter Oberacker (R/C – Schenevus) this week met with students from Chenango County competing at the NY Tech Valley FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition in Science and Technology) Robotics Competition at MVP Arena in Albany.

Senator Oberacker said, “STEM education and related programs are allowing our next generation of leaders to learn about new and innovative job opportunities. Extracurricular programs like the robotics team provide a real-life application of these programs and help our young people further develop their skills in a practical manner.”

The Chenango County squad, competing under the name Team 145 T-Rx, is comprised of students from Sherburne-Earlville Central School and Unadilla Valley Central School.

“The Chenango County robotics team is fortunate to have dedicated mentors and teachers that are guiding them in this competition and helping prepare them for the future. As a member of both the Senate Education and Higher Education Committees, this is the type of pioneering program that I want to champion moving forward. Meeting with the students was truly inspiring and it was great to see them putting their knowledge to work at the tech competition,” concluded Senator Oberacker.

According to the FIRST NY Tech Valley website, the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is the premier engineering challenge for high school students. Teams of students, working closely with teachers and volunteer mentors, have six weeks to conceptualize, design, build, program, modify and test a robot to participate in a competition that changes each year.

-From the office of Senator Peter Oberacker