In the past month, the Los Altos Eagle Strike robotics team has seen a lot of action. Alongside placing 23rd in the Silicon Valley Regional, the team has also received a large sum of grant money. Both of these events have greatly boosted the team’s moral as they continue to build the robotics program.

The robotics team received a grant of $2,500 from a company called Western Digital, which produces electronic equipment and other networking components. At first, after sending in a request for the grant much earlier in the school year, the team heard nothing back and simply did not expect the funding.

“The money was a welcome surprise,” senior Adam Evard said.

As of now, the team has yet to determine how to use the grant money. Many team members have voiced their desire to save the money for next year, while others disagree. Regardless of how the money will be spent, the robotics team will continue to apply for more grants to enhance the program and continue to build funding for future projects.

However, even without the grant money, the robotics team was able to perform extremely well at their most recent competition this season. Taking place on April 5 and 6, the competition was held at San Jose State University. Because the robotics team was ranked ninth by the first day, the Eagle Strikes moved onto the finals, where it was able to last five rounds.

The ultimate goal of this competition was to score as many discs into the other team’s goals using robots.

“Ultimately, we did very well and we are looking forward to next year’s season,” sophomore Ian Mackey said.