The SigmaC@T team was formed in 1994 by a core group of robotics enthusiasts and educators. Now an alliance between Dillard and Taravella High Schools, SigmaC@T is a very powerful and noteworthy team. Since its inception, the team has strived to become stronger in many fields including community involvement, engineering, and the overall inspiration of learning. Now, over a decade later, we've built upon the ideas and goals that have made us a such a strong team since the beginning.

Mission

The SigmaC@T Robotics team is an initiative to inspire the creative work force of tomorrow with the innovative learning techniques of today. The students who participate are the engineers, leaders, and innovators of the team and the future. This team provides students with the opportunity to cultivate their skills and use them in a productive, real-world environment. This team also utilizes the leaders of technology, those at the forefront of the corporate and economic world to give the students a full "real-world" experience and the opportunities that come with these corporations. Motorola plays this role for our team, providing leadership from their engineers and business professionals.

Students are presented with a wide array of opportunities to expand their abilities as well as focus them in various fields of interest. With a melting pot of people and ideas, diversity is key to the SigmaC@Ts.

History

The history of the SigmaC@T robotics team is a rich one. We have been a corporately sponsored robotics team since our birth in 1994. We started as a FIRST robotics team and have been a successful FIRST team since our induction. We have long been a supporter of FIRST Lego League and have sponsored many FLL competitions.

As the oldest FIRST team in Florida, it's our joy and responsibility to be a role model to other teams. One thing we value most about our team is the level of diversity. We want to give everyone a chance to experience and become involved with FIRST and join together for the common goals of learning, knowledge, and innovation. That's why our team consists not only of "techies," but performing arts and athletic students as well. These individuals are all encouraged to apply their talents to the field of engineering, and we value their input when it comes to designing and building the robot, public relations, and community efforts. Students come from a wide variety of backgrounds as well. We embrace FIRST's passion for spreading the FIRST message, especially to minorities and females. Thanks to our recruiting methods, we boast twice the number of female students over last year, which was 50% more than the year before that.

We've received much recognition for our team efforts over the years and earned prestigious FIRST awards such as 1998 Regional Chairman's Award, 3 J&J Sportsmanship awards, 2 Leadership in Controls awards, and many others. Our robot has ranked at the top of regional and national competitions almost every year since our team started.