Golden Dragons Robotics Team (FTC 772) Earns Enrico Fermi Discovery Award at Chicago Robotics Invitational Premier Event

HARTSVILLE, S.C. (Aug. 6, 2025) — The Golden Dragons (FTC 772) from the South Carolina Governor’s School for Science & Mathematics (GSSM) performed exceptionally at the 2025 Chicago Robotics Invitational Premier Event (CRI), held July 19–20 at Francis W. Parker School in Chicago. Among 38 top-tier teams invited—including 22 through FIRST’s Premier Event advancement system and 16 via CRI’s application process—the Golden Dragons represented South Carolina with distinction.

At CRI, the team received the prestigious Enrico Fermi Discovery Award, recognizing their outstanding dedication and proficiency in scouting, match strategy, and game analysis. The scouting team included Shivali Patel (Seneca), Breanna VanAtter (West Union), Caroline Pringle (York), Peyton Weidner (Fort Mill), Caroline Locklair (Charleston), and Vyom Madeyanda (Fort Mill). They logged countless hours analyzing opponent performance, advising on strategy during alliance selection, and supporting alliance partners throughout qualification and elimination matches.

To support their efforts, the software team developed a custom scouting app using Flask, React, and PostgreSQL. Created by Braeden Montroy (Myrtle Beach), Gabriel Howe (Inman), and Sanjith Sunil (Marion), the app featured a user-friendly interface and automatically stored data in Google Sheets for match analytics. Judges at CRI praised the app’s impact, citing it as a key factor during the award interview process. The app will enter a beta testing phase this fall and be shared with select South Carolina FTC teams during the 2025–26 DECODE season.

Engineering instructor and team mentor Dr. Elaine Parshall said, “The Golden Dragons have once again broken ground for future robotics teams. This trip to CRI taught us a lot about what we need to do next year to be more successful in ensuring a working robot. Faced with many issues in the robot’s ability to score, the team never gave up and got the most out of their robot every match. Most importantly, they have a strong group of five juniors returning in the fall. The Enrico Fermi award truly captures the thoughts and efforts they’ve put into this year’s competitions.”

Just months earlier, the Golden Dragons made history at the 2025 FIRST Robotics World Championship in Houston by finishing ninth in their division and advancing to the playoffs—becoming the only South Carolina team to do so this year and the first from the state in over a decade.

Match results, team rankings, and livestream replays from the Chicago Robotics Invitational are available at chicagoroboticsinvitational.com/scores-stream. Learn more about GSSM’s robotics teams at scgssm.org/robotics.