Team Faraday was founded in 2013 as EagleTec Robotics, participating in the First Tech Challenge (FTC) almost every year since. Despite the team’s recent successes, the team has had a difficult history.

“Robotics has been an on-and-off organization at EHS since 2013. In my sophomore year (2020) the team fell apart completely and was kicked out of the school. At this point, I moved the remaining parts to my basement. With just 450 dollars, 8-year-old parts, 7 working motors, 2 servos, a roll of duct tape, and some cardboard, the team made the state championship for the first time in school history. That year, we had no official field, which meant we had to build our own field, made of garden bedding, wood sidings, and more duct tape,” said former captain Pranav Chundi ‘22.

Even in the more recent FTC seasons, the team had difficulties procuring all the parts they wanted.

“We had so little money, it was laughable. We were using 9-year-old parts (at the time), and each competition barely managed to scrape together a robot to compete with. If I recall correctly, that year we had a fundraised a total of 850 dollars, to build a new robot,” said Team Faraday captain Jayesh Chaurasia ’23 

Despite these difficulties, they have managed to qualify in regionals and attend the state competition every year since 2020.

This year however, the situation has significantly changed: the Board of Education (BOE) endowed Team Faraday $10,000 dollars.

“The $10,000 in funding that we received allowed us to purchase a brand new supply of updated parts that has helped our team succeed and rank highly during competition. These parts should allow future EHS robotics teams to continue competing while retaining leftover funding for new challenges that come with each year’s new competition challenge. We are very grateful for the funding and intend to make our school proud in the coming years,” said vice-captain Abdullah Rizvi ‘23.

Now in college, Chundi remains involved with the team as a mentor, giving them his insight as an FTC veteran.

“[Chundi] has helped us a countless number of times, stopping critical oversights that would’ve cost weeks to fix, and ensured that the team is able to move forward smoothly and effectively. I am incredibly grateful to [Chundi] and would not know where the team would be without his insight and advice,” said Chaurasia.

Last competition, the team assembled a winning effort, garnering a “Winning Alliance Partner” award, which now sits in Chundi’s house, framed. 

“I was really proud of what the team was able to accomplish on short notice, performing well enough to be part of the winning alliance. I know we will be able to go further and perform better in the coming years,” said Chaurasia.

Team Faraday, now with a veteran coach and significant funding to back their efforts, strives to continue trying to rise through the FTC ranks.