A New Year!

It's 2013 and were back! Starting up a whole new year with some new people but the same joy and excitement!
We have started building and drawing some blue prints for our brand new robot! This year the competition is called Toss Up. It has the robots hanging from bars and throwing objects. We are using the biggest object ever used in the Vex Robotics Competitions. We are looking very forward to doing this all over again, and hope to go back to Worlds this year for another fun and great learning experience for the whole team!

We also hope people can help us out with funds and the team! You can donate money right here on the website, just click on the link on the main page to donate.

Sincerely, The Syntax Errors

P.S. Thanks for checking our website!

We Heart Robots

Before the Match

At the World Championships each team in our division played 10 qualifying matches. I tried to snap a picture of each driving team before they went into the arena. Here are some of our drive teams:

The Beach!

Although "begin at the beginning" has it's merits, I'm going to start documenting our Anaheim adventures with the end. These pics of this landlocked team at the Pacific Ocean just couldn't wait. We had a such a joyous time after the competition playing in the waves, finding treasures and participating in the local Earth Day activities. Rather than fight the crowds at Huntington Pier, we went up the coast a bit to the Bolsa Chica State Park.

This crab was enormous!

Sushi, anyone?

Gorgeous!

Outside the lifeguard tower the park rangers were working in conjunction with a local non-profit to create an Earth Day tile mural to be placed in one of the Bolsa Chica buildings. The Syntax Errors participated by making their own tiles.

The trip

The trip was wonderful! the robot did grate. there was allot of fun things to do at the stadium! I had a fun time! Elijah

Congrats to the team

We finished strong with excellent teamwork and defense coming in 64 in our division! Congrats team! Here we are celebrating with a beloved mascot.

2013-2014 Season NEW GAME REVEALED

Tonight the next season's game was revealed and it all has our minds racing with design and strategy ideas. We see some pneumatics in our future....

A Whirlwind

To All the Syntax Errors Fans,

So much has happened over the last two days and I realize that our last published post was yesterday at the opening ceremony. Two posts are still trying to publish from Ms. Amy's phone and there is not any Wifi in the convention center (apparently it interferes with the performance of the 'bots).

Suffice it to say, many postings are yet to come. We miss everyone and can feel your love and support from where ever you may be!

~The Syntax Errors

Opening Ceremony

Our view from our seats at the opening ceremony. This is amazing. Over 24 countries and 700 teams are here.

On the train

Here we are riding the rails!

Basking in the Glow

If it seems too quiet here at the blog, that's because we've taken a short hiatus while we basked in the glow of REACHING OUR INITIAL FUNDRAISING GOAL!!

To date we have raised $11,400 which will go to sending our team to Anaheim in less than a week. We could not have done it without all of the funds donated through this blog. Thank you.

If you are visiting us for the first time and are interested in donating, please do! Any funds which are not spent on our trip will go towards building our program next year. This year's program was started entirely with grant money which will not be available next year. I have a feeling that our numbers will swell given the success in our first year and would be great to have the resources to support the students.

While we are in Ahaheim we will blog daily, so stay tuned April 17-21 as we take on the World Championship!

~The Syntax Errors

Leaders of the 'tax

At next week's world championships our team needs to people to represent us. The first is our team captain and the second is a team member who will march in the parade in the opening ceremony. This person will represent our team, New Mexico and part of the US contingency. Last week Aidan G. was selected to be our team captain. He is pictured at the right below. Jack (center) will be our parade rep. Sophie (left) rounds out this driving/coaching team.

Congratulations Aidan and Jack!

Here they are in action at today's practice! 

Wow!

Today we received $1250 in donations! We are on our way to Worlds!

Please use the PayPal button to the right to make your tax-deductible donation to our team.

We are so grateful!
~Syntax Errors

If you would like to donate...

Dear Supporters of Syntax Errors,

If you would like to donate money to help us get to Anaheim, you can send your tax-deductible donation endorsed to Friends of Mountain Mahogany (FOMM). This is the non-profit arm of our school. FOMM's mailing address is:

5014 4th St NW
Albuquerque, NM 87107

In the very near future our Kickstarter campaign will also be live. When that happens you can use your credit card or PayPal account to donate directly.

We are also looking for donations of snacks, banner printing, small New Mexico Zia flags, small ristras, a button press to borrow, and new, white t-shirts in a variety of sizes. These donations can also be delivered to our school at the address above.

Whatever way you choose to support us, we're ever so grateful!

The Syntax Errors

Up and Running

Today marks our first official blog post before the World Championships in Anaheim, CA! We have a lot to do to put the finishing touches on our robot and fundraise our way to California. This blog will highlight all of the ups and downs on our way to World's!

Last weekend we won the Excellence Award at New Mexico's inaugural VEX Robotic Competition. The Excellence Award is not because we were the best at designing, programming and driving our robot. We won it because we demonstrated excellent sportsmanship and attitude during the event. We were all totally shocked and amazed that we won the overall competition and grateful for the opportunity to represent our school and the state of New Mexico in just a month!