Wesley Hays, Noah Beckner, Nathan Smith and Evan Rassi were among those who spoke to the Wawasee Kiwanis Club. Notice the robot at their feet covered to prevent leaks of the new build.

SYRACUSE — Wawasee’s Iron Pride began the winter half of the season by presenting to the Wawasee Kiwanis of Syracuse Saturday, Jan. 4, at the Syracuse Community Center.

Teams 574C and 574D talked for more than an hour about the upgrades made to the robots during the winter break and their goals for the rest of the competition season. They also discussed fundraising for traveling and competing at the Night at the Museum tournament at the Smithsonian Museum in Chantilly, Va.

The teams requested no pictures of the robot be posted on social media to prevent early reveals of improvements. Stacking blocks is a major focus in this year’s game and 574C and 574D have solved many issues to reach stacks of 10 and 11 reliably. Also they have developed a system to hold a full stack and place blocks in towers. These two teams are at the top of their game.

574C and 574D have been invited to compete at the exclusive nationwide Night at the Museum tournament at the end of the month at the National Air & Space Museum in Virginia. Sixty of the best teams from 32 states will be at the competition. Winning this tourney qualifies a team for the world championships in Louisville, Ky., in April.

574C and 574D are raising funds to pay for travel, housing and competition fees. A goal of $10,000 is set for the remainder of the 2019-20 season. The goal will help cover costs with travel to state and worlds competition.

Help for reaching this goal is requested.

Wawasee’s roster:

574A Amazon — Andrea Mickley, Allison Stookey, Sydni Ewing

574C Centurion — Evan Rassi, Taylor Fiedeke, Evan Brower

574D Immortal — Noah Beckner, Jack Collins, Wesley Hays, Nathan Smith

574F Barbarian — Jackson Coverstone

574G Iron Knight — Harry Doss

574 — Vanessa Wright and Bailey Smith

574H Samurai (middle school) — Charlie Krull, Michael Wippel, Alan Warren