Clague Middle School’s robotics team made a strong impression on May 10, 2025 at the Motor City Robotics Tournament in Detroit — bringing high honors to home.
Team 7305, which consists of team members Jacob Davidson (8), Leo Manolidis (8), Benjamin Wang (8), Noah Davidson (8), James Sandstedt-Fields (8), Lorelai Davey (8), Kate Wang (6), Mia Manolidis (6), Ellie Wen (8) Jordan Bowman (7) and Jaleya Grady (7), took first place overall and was named the Winning Alliance Captain. They also won the Inspire Award, the highest honor in FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) competitions.
“This is the most prestigious award given out in First FTC,” eighth grader Benjamin Wang said. “It was truly rewarding to see all that hard work culminate in a first place finish and Inspire Award!”
Also representing Clague was Team 23606, which consists of team members Akil Granahan (7), Vimal Vasan Srinivasan (7), Ayaan Zafri (7) and Rei Karir (7), who ranked first during qualifying rounds, won the Control Award, and served as Finalist Alliance Captain.
“We got scores way higher than most of the other teams,” seventh grade Team 23606 member Akil Granahan said, “we only lost in the finals because the team we were playing against was also Clague.”
Team 7305 is mentored by Dr. Anouck Girard, a University of Michigan professor of Robotics and Aerospace Engineering; Dan Empey, a NASA engineer; and Brandon McDonald, a UM robotics undergraduate.
The competition was the culmination of months of preparation, with students working after school each week to refine their robots’ design, programming and performance.
