Brownell Talbot’s robotics team, 1028A, is made up of an experienced group of students: Cillian Rochling ’26, Eric Zhou ’26, Angel Bhandari ’26, Rital Miller ’26, Chris Holtzclaw ’27, Wesley Wildes ’27, and Lara Blume ’28. Together, the team combines experience with fresh perspectives, creating an environment where collaboration and learning are central. Each member contributes in different ways, whether through engineering, programming, or documentation, allowing the group to function smoothly and efficiently. Competing together since August, Team 1028A has shown a strong work ethic and commitment to growth at every competition they’ve attended. The team emphasizes iteration, problem-solving, and communication, often refining their design between competitions based on performance data and match analysis. As a result of this consistency and teamwork, the team has earned 14 awards so far this season. Including 4 Tournament Champion awards and 2 Excellence Awards, the highest honor given at VEX competitions, which recognizes a team’s overall excellence in robot performance, engineering design, documentation, and teamwork. The Excellence Award is given to teams that demonstrate strong engineering practices, a well-maintained engineering notebook, effective collaboration, and professionalism both on and off the field. Most recently, 1028A competed at Omaha North High School, where they achieved their highest skills score of the year. Skills scores measure a robot’s individual driving and autonomous programming capabilities, and the team posted an impressive combined score of 166 points. This performance ranked them 1st in Nebraska, 22nd in the United States, and 29th out of 11,744 teams worldwide. These accomplishments reflect not only the technical strength of the robot, but also the collaboration, dedication, and shared passion that define the team.
