Aloha Friends of Waialua Robotics

With much devastation, a critical storm (the Kona Low Storm) had hit our town and STEM Learning Center. Flooding forced residents out of their homes, even completely taking homes away. With many members of our community being horribly affected, our team set up a link on the Waialua Robotics website that will inform others of the storm and lead to GoFundMe's for families out there in need of help. https://www.waialuarobotics.com/support-waialua

May 5th 2026-- After 6 Weeks of Build Season, where our team designs, builds, and programs the robot, we were able to compete at our first regional of the season.

Our team ranked 1st out of 44 teams at the Canadian Pacific Regional, held at the Pacific Coliseum, located in Vancouver, Canada, March 4-7. We won alongside Team 3693 from Ontario, Canada, and Team 9180 from Surrey, Canada.

At the Hawaii Regional that took place on March 19-22, located at St. Louis High School, Honolulu, HI, USA, our team ranked 3rd out of 30 teams. With our alliances Team 11019 from Shanghai, China, and Team 9715 from Manila, Philippines, we had won the Regional.

On March 26-28, our team competed at the Idaho Regional in Nampa, ID, USA. Our team ranked 1st out of 35 teams. We won alongside Team 3729 from Aurora, USA, and Team 2122 from Boise, USA.

On April 16-18, our team competed at the Utah Regional in West Valley City, UT, USA, where we ranked 2nd out of 42 teams, and earned the Autonomous Award.

In addition to our Regional Wins and despite the devastation to our home town, Team 359 (Hawaiian Kids) also won the most prestigious FIRST award, the Regional FIRST Impact Award at the Hawaii Regional, which honors the team that best represents a model for other teams that best represents a model for other teams to emulate and embody the mission of FIRST, and the Innovation in Control Award sponsored by nVent, which celebrates an innovative control system or application of control components.

Our mentor, Malcolm Menor, was presented with the Woodie Flowers Finalist Award at the Canadian Pacific Regional, which recognizes mentors who lead, inspire, and empower using excellent communication skills. Our team member, Janel Lee, was also recognized as a FIRST Leadership Award Finalist at the Hawaii Regional.

Our record at the Canadian Pacific Regional was 16-0-0 (win-loss-tie), and we scored 409 points in our Finals 2 match, securing our win. Our record for the Hawaii Regional was 15-2-0, scoring 303 points in our Finals 2 match to secure the win. Our record at the Idaho Regional was 17-0-0, and we scored 291 in our Finals 2 match to secure our win. Our Record at the Utah Regional was 13-4-0 pushing the finals to a tiebreaker losing 457-408. Our Record at the FIRST World Championship was 8-5-0 losing in the lower bracket match 10, 578-449.

At the FIRST World Championships this year our team was honored with receiving 1 of the 6 World Championship FIRST Impact Award Finalists. This award celebrates measurable impact on participants, school, and community at large with an emphasis on promoting science and technology. You can view FIRST’s press release here honoring all the winners here https://www.firstinspires.org/about/press-room/50000-gather-in-houston-for-first-championship-2026.

For any questions about our team or visitation of our STEM Learning Center, contact us at team359@waialuahigh.com or through our socials @thehawaiiankids.

Mahalo,

Waialua Robotics