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Four Harvey Upper School robotics teams attended the annual Clash at Kennedy Robotics Tournament held Saturday, Feb. 8 at Kennedy Catholic in Somers, New York, and brought home three major tournament awards. The event featured 32 teams from the Southern New York State Division. All of the Harvey teams performed very well.

Harvey Team 6277B One Pancake - Logan Alexander ‘25 and Dan Wood ‘25 - kept their incredible season rolling by earning the DESIGN AWARD and tournament finalist honors. (Team member Jack Zimmerman '27 was not in attendance.)

Harvey teams Apex and Byte Force earned their first major awards of the season.

Harvey Team 6277D Apex - Wyatt Bland '26, Talya Langer '26, Casey Kelly '26, and Peyton Forde '26 - won the BUILD AWARD and tournament finalist honors. (Team member Maya Taub '26 was not in attendance.)

Harvey Team 6277F Byte Force - Sullivan Wieting ‘27, Luca Nishimura’26, and Henry He ‘26 - took home the INNOVATE AWARD.

With earning these awards, teams Apex and Byte Force qualified for the New York State Championships coming up in March.

Harvey Team 6277A Robocavs - Ben Zilberstein '25 and Brady Campos '25 - made it to the semifinals for the second time this season before being eliminated from the playoffs.

"It was quite a day for our program earning three out of the four major awards at the event," said Harvey Robotics coach John Wahlers. "But the day had other highlights - seeing our teams help other less experienced teams solve problems is really what these events are all about," Coach Wahlers said.

Robotics coach Chris Kelly agreed. "The competitions are fun. The kids are battling to win, but that doesn't stop them from working to help other teams to improve - in fact, that is why we compete," he said. "Logan Alexander took the time to help the students from Freeport High School learn how to construct a one-way locking mechanism on their robot to help them earn more points. And that's just one example," shared Coach Kelly.

"Several parents from other schools came up after the event to ask about our program and to compliment our kids," said Coach Wahlers, adding, "That makes our day."

Harvey Robotics team 6277B One Pancake: Logan '25 and Dan '25

Harvey Robotics team 6277D Apex: Wyatt '26, Talya '26, and Casey '26

Harvey Robotics team 6277F Byte Force: Luca '26 and Henry '26