Written By: Audrey T
What is the Banquet?
We hold a banquet at the end of every season to show off what we accomplished. It consists of speeches, robot demos, and a lot of food! A big part of the banquet is our season reflection, discussing our awards, event performance, and other great things our team did. Another exciting portion of the banquet is when our captains for the next season are announced. Keep reading to see who will be leading us through the 2026-2027 season!
Thank You, Sponsors!
Our season wouldn’t have happened without the sponsors who have generously donated to support our team! You can view our current sponsors here! If you are interested in becoming a sponsor, you can do so here! Thank you so much for all your help. Our team cannot express how valuable your support is!
Competition Recap
Over our season, we competed in two competitions: Northern Lights and North Star! While we didn’t advance to Worlds, we still have lots of reasons to be proud of our team!
Northen Lights
For our Northern Lights regional, we drove all the way to Duluth! We got to befriend Herobotics through sharing a bus there and back and hanging out at the competition. Along with Herobotics, we had tons of fun talking to every other team at the competition through events such as a chill puzzle-building session (that also had cockroaches!) and meeting people in the pits.
Even though Dippy (technically “Diplodoculas,” but I’m not typing that out every time) had some technical issues, we pushed through and did well during our matches. Our driver, Brooke-Lynn, was driving with the controls backward and still scoring during some of the day! To round out our accomplishments from Northern Lights, we won the Creativity Award; our hopperless design was recognized as an innovative way to tackle REBUILT.
North Star
After Northern Lights was done, we had some time to revise and repair before our next regional, North Star! In addition to getting Dippy ready to go, our team was helping others in any way we could. This season, we tried something new; we hosted an international team! We opened our workshop and practice field to POWERHOUSE, a rookie team from Shanghai. It was a great experience, we made some new friends, got to shop for some American souvenirs, and cheered them on through every match!
Our hard work paid off, and we were an alliance captain, meaning we would be picking our teammates for the playoffs. Even though we ended up getting eliminated during the double-elimination bracket, we didn’t walk away empty-handed. Our team won the Sustainability Award, proving that the work we are putting into documentation and training is paying off! We did a lot with Awards at North Star. This is where we also submitted our team members for the Leadership, Ally L, and Charlotte S, and Woodie Flowers, Toni K, awards!
More! More! AND EVEN MORE!
If you’re looking at this and thinking, “WOW! Talon sure does a lot,” guess what… WE DID MORE! Since this is our local competition, we had our annual Women in Engineering Panel, led by our Inclusivity lead, Gabe B, and Business Captain, Charlotte S! This is a panel of several women in the engineering industry, all from different fields and different levels. We were able to cover a wide variety of perspectives and offer students a chance to personally connect with role models. This year, we did something a little different and ran it at two regionals; the event gave over 50 students the opportunity to learn and meet some wonderful people!
Now, if you’re thinking, “surely they must be done, that’s so much!” WRONG AGAIN! WE ALSO HAD ICE CREAM! In addition to hosting the Women’s Panel at both events, we also did a free ice cream social! These were a great success and allowed all the teams a chance to chat and get to know each other after a long day at the comp. (We even got them to hit the sea lion!)
What’s Next? (totally not an ad read)
Even though our season is over, we are FAR from done. Much like our lovely, very caffeinated deputies, robotics never sleeps! We already have a new fundraiser coming up, and many events for the summer! Come support us in our Freeziac fundraiser:
Stop by the Eden Prairie Freeziac any time on June 25 to support us! Just buy some frozen yogurt and mention that you are here for the fundraiser, and we get 25% back, so your support helps a lot!
NEW CAPTAINS???? (not clickbait, 100% real)
As you read earlier, the banquet happening means that our captains for this offseason and the 2026-2027 season have been announced! So now, let’s give it up for our new captains:
Engineering Captains:
- Ally L
- Rishi J
Business Captains:
- James F
- Audrey T
These will be the people leading our team up until this time next year! It’s going to be great!
A Tragic Announcement:
To the one person who actually reads who is writing these blog posts, you might have noticed that I, the VERY humble former media lead, have changed roles and become a captain. While it was fun to write some of the most professional blog posts this team has ever seen, it is now time for me to pass along the title. New leads will be announced to the team at our next team meeting! TALON MEMBERS WHO DON’T READ THE CALENDAR: IT IS JUNE 2ND!
Stay Connected With Us During The Entire Season!
If you want to stay connected with the team during the entire season, feel free to check out our social media pages: