CROSS RIVER, N.Y. - At John Jay High School, success in robotics isn’t new — but this year, it’s reaching a global stage.
The school’s FIRST Tech Challenge team, MOB Robotics, is headed to the World Championship in Houston this April after a dominant run through the state competition. The team went undefeated (11–0) at the New York State Championship, setting consecutive scoring records along the way and establishing itself as one of the top-performing teams not just in the state, but in the world.
According to robotics teacher and coach Jonathan Peter, the accomplishment reflects years of consistency and growth within the program.
“We’re super stoked… we’re pretty happy with the result, and we’re definitely excited,” Peter says. “Every year we put robots into the state finals, which in itself is pretty exciting, but only a couple go on to the world.”
This marks the second time in recent years that John Jay has qualified for the global competition, with the last appearance coming four years ago. This time, however, the team enters with even greater momentum — currently holding one of the top scores worldwide.
Iteration and Effort
The success didn’t happen overnight. In fact, Peter credits the team’s ability to continuously refine and improve as the key difference this season.
“One of the things that works really well is if you finish early in the process, then you get to iterate and reflect on your mistakes,” he explains. “We iterate quickly, we make changes, and we learn from our mistakes and try to use those mistakes to make us better and stronger.”
That process has been intensive. Even outside the classroom — and despite winter weather disruptions — students have consistently put in extra hours.
“We had a bunch of snow days this year… and I think pretty much for almost every snow day, we were here working,” Peter said. “Putting the hours in, making sure things worked or figuring out why they didn’t.”
Currently, the team is already hard at work preparing for Houston, dismantling and rebuilding its robot in pursuit of greater speed, efficiency and reliability.
While MOB Robotics captured the state title, it wasn’t the only team representing John Jay at a high level. Teams Vulkan and ScrewUps also competed at the state championship, each turning in strong performances and contributing to an impressive overall showing for the program.
The depth across multiple teams underscores the strength of the robotics program and the culture that has been built over time.
Teamwork
MOB Robotics is made up of juniors and seniors: Sagi Ohana, Matthew Mendez, TJ Panek, Carys Cooper, Kiera Coffey, Oliver Kuszynski, Kishen Kathuria, Alex Bond, Emerson Flamm and Haolin Li. Together, they take on every aspect of the competition — from engineering and coding to branding and presentation.
For Li, the experience goes far beyond building a robot.
“It requires multiple people to design, build, code and test just the robot,” Li says. “Branding and media also plays a crucial role in helping the team succeed.”
Li added that the program stands out from traditional classes because of its collaborative, real-world structure.
“It’s one of the only courses in the school where seniors and juniors interact together and you as a team control how you do,” Li adds. “Overall, I think the course prepares you for what it’s like to work in an engineering and team environment… sometimes it’s really stressful, but most of the time it is super rewarding.”
Panek emphasized the support that the team has received from their coach.
"Robotics is a very self-oriented class," he said. "Our teacher and mentor JP is always there for support, but never tells us to do something we don't think is a good idea."
World Stage
At the World Championship, the level of competition will be unlike anything the team has faced so far.
“I expect worlds to be super competitive,” Li said. “You’ve got teams at the highest level from all across the globe competing against each other.”
Still, the opportunity is about more than results.
“I expect it to be a great learning experience… and a motivating factor so that they want to come back and compete at worlds next year,” he added. “And I’m expecting a super fun time as well.”
Panek echoed those sentiments as the team enters uncharted territory.
"Worlds is the furthest I have gotten in a competitive challenge," he said. "FTC is very rigorous and I have devoted most of my senior year to doing well in it. I am expecting to do well, but Worlds is the most competitive level of FTC."
Community Support
While the team’s registration for the event is covered by the district, travel costs — including flights, lodging and transporting equipment — present a significant financial hurdle.
To help offset those expenses, the team has launched a fundraiser and is seeking community support ahead of the late-April trip to Houston.
To help with the effort, click HERE or scan the QR code accompanying this article.
Peter also emphasized that the program’s success is built on a strong foundation, crediting former program leader Steve Zoeller for getting things started, as well as the often-overlooked contributions of the school’s custodial staff.
“They really do their best to support us… we make a heck of a mess,” he said. “They’re super generous, super nice people, and they really help us out.”
As MOB Robotics prepares to represent John Jay on the world stage, the combination of innovation, persistence and teamwork continues to define the program — and could very well propel it even further.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here