The Holy Cows, an award-winning robotics team from High Tech High that has received national recognition for its work, demonstrated its technical prowess again this month. Competing in the San Diego regional robotics event called “Rebound Rumble” earlier this month at the Valley View Casino Center (formerly the San Diego Sports Arena), The Holy Cows earned the prestigious Chairman’s Award and, by virtue of that, qualify for the For the Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) World Championship in St. Louis, Mo. from April 25-28. The San Diego event challenged students to build a robot to play basketball while traversing a field of obstacles. The FIRST organization is designed to ignite young people’s passion for science, technology, engineering and mathematics, but also to spread the message of FIRST to other people and to reach out to the community through volunteer work. Teams must be an active part of their community if they hope to win the coveted Chairman’s Award, an honor more prestigious than winning the robotics competition itself. The Holy Cows have won the award four years in a row, including this year at the San Diego Regional. The team has now set its eyes on the World Championship Chairman’s Award, having accumulated more than 4,000 community service hours this year. More than 1,000 student hours are dedicated during the six-week build season to build the robot, write award submissions and create press materials. The team will compete next at the Silicon Valley Regional in San Jose from March 29-31. To learn more about FIRST, visit www.usfirst.org. — Special to The Beacon