2009 Bomb Squad Students and Mentors

Bomb Squad Award History

Team Management and Organization

2009 Beta Test Team

Team History

The Bomb Squad, begun in 1996, is one of the oldest and most decorated sustained teams in FIRST. A handful of engineers, an English teacher, and a history teacher with big dreams for the students in our small town developed a partnership between the Baxter Healthcare facility in Mountain Home, Arkansas and Mountain Home High School that would result in one of the most impressive legacies in the FIRST community.

A brilliant start would net the team four consecutive Chairman’s Award Finalist finishes at the national level and culminate in a Chairman’s Award in 2000. Only the eighth team to win this ultimate prize that has been awarded to a mere sixteen teams, the Bomb Squad struggled with a “what to do now ?” dilemma.

The partnership with Baxter Healthcare ended after the 2004 season and it looked like the team would retire on its significant accomplishments. But a few of the mentors, the English teacher, and the history teacher, the students (and a lot of community fans) couldn’t let go.

So the team that was rich in resources, success, and reputation ended up in the attic of the gym with borrowed tools and a serious case of “what do we do now?” What we did was continue to get students excited about technology and determined to be excellent no matter what our financial or facility situation. Our community stepped up and supported the team even though we had no corporate sponsor - an “impossible” position for an FRC team. But we are the Bomb Squad, we specialize in impossible situations.

Arkansas State Lego League Tournament; sponsored by Baxter Healthcare Inc.; hosted by STG and the Bomb Squad

The Bomb Squad is a cherished icon in our town. We are a popular participant in multiple community events including parades, summer celebrations, the county fair, and school demonstrations. We have expanded the program to include our Junior High students by forming an FTC team, the Junior Bomb Squad, in 2006. This team is well on its way to a reputation as excellent as the FRC team by winning a Regional event in each of its second and third seasons.

Over 250 students have been inspired to excel by this team and 100% of these have attended college. At least five of our former team members have gone on to start or mentor FIRST teams; one of our alumni is Dean Kamen’s personal executive assistant. The totality of personal and professional success of our students is truly remarkable and is the validation for all the commitment and sacrifice of our mentors and volunteers.

The recent Arkansas Governor’s Summit on Education and Economic Development included our FIRST program in 12 “Great Partnerships Around Our State, Some Great Examples of Public/Private/Business Partnerships That Are Getting Things Done.”

Governor Beebe visited Mountain Home High School and met with the Bomb Squad -he even drove our robot.

Team 16 was selected as one of 17 FRC teams to beta test the new 2009 control system and train a portion of the other 1700 teams. We traveled to Kansas City and St. Louis to demonstrate the new control system and offered training workshops to over 70 teams from 3 states.

In twelve seasons of competition the Bomb Squad has earned and maintained a position in the FIRST Hall of Fame. In addition to the Chairman’s Award, Team 16 won a Creativity Award at the Championship level. In 2008 the team was a Division Champion and earned a World Finalist medal. The many Regional honors bestowed upon the Bomb Squad include 9 Regional Championships, 35 Regional Awards and 2005 Woodie Flowers Finalist John Novak.

The Bomb Squad @ St. Louis