In its 21-year history, Penfield High School’s FIRST Robotics Team, 1511 Rolling Thunder, has established itself as a force to be reckoned with.

In fact, Rolling Thunder is ranked first in the world for the most regional FIRST Impact Awards (13). The most prestigious award at FIRST, the Impact Award honors the team that best represents a model for other teams to emulate and best embodies the mission of FIRST.  

“Essentially, this is on par with winning Sectionals for a sports team,” said David Weisbrod, one of the team’s advisors. “When you think in terms of championship titles, 13 Impact Awards in 21 years is quite the accomplishment, on top of the 17 times we’ve been to Worlds.”

This month, the team hopes to add another accolade to its trophy case and bring home the Impact Award at the 2026 FIRST Robotics Competition World Championship, the culminating competition held in Houstin, Texas. The competition features thousands of students from more than 600 teams from around the world for a celebration of science, technology, engineering, and math.

The team’s journey to the championship began in the fall, when advisors, David Weisbord, Ed Levine, and Ralph Pizzo , along with the team’s many mentors, meet with students to set roles and responsibilities for the year. Penfield’s team has anywhere from 40 to 60 who engage in a variety of tasks that go well beyond the building of the robot.

“We have many sub-teams, including mechanical, electrical, scouting, pit crew, marketing, and an Impact team,” said Weisbord. “While we do require all students to contribute something to the robot, they are able to hone skill sets that fit their interests.”

Each year, the competition challenges teams in different ways. For the 2026 event, students were tasked with building a robot that can scoop up balls and then shoot them into a basket. Along the way, they’re collaborating with some robots, battling others, and trying to keep their own robot going strong.

Junior Jackson Claypool has been on the team for two years and is involved in the Impact Award Team and the Strategy Team.

“It’s a unique way to use my abilities,” said Claypool. “I have fun doing the Impact submission and organizing our strategy.”

As a member of the Impact Award Team, he contributes to the data collection and presentation that students will deliver to judges. The part of the competition includes a seven-minute presentation and five minutes of question-and-answer about the ways in which they model the FIRST Robotics philosophy, including community service efforts, STEM advocacy, and more. This year, students have focused part of their presentation on their growing sustainability efforts, including recycling and composting.

The students’ hard work paid off at the Finger Lakes Regional, held in mid-March at the Rochester Institute of Technology. The team’s robot finished qualifying rounds ranked fourth and made it to the third round of eliminations before being knocked out by the eventual winners. The team was honored to receive the Impact Award, which qualified them for Worlds.

A week later, they traveled to Pennsylvania for the Greater Pittsburg Regional, where they were given the Engineering Inspiration Award.

The team benefits from strong partnerships with several local organizations, including Dematic, Quality Vision International, and most notably, L3 Harris, which has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to the team over the past 20 years. L3Harris employees also help build parts and serve as mentors to the students.

In addition to preparing for the robotics challenge and the Impact Award presentation, students and advisors are fundraising for their trip to the World Championships, as sending the whole team (and a robot) to Houston is extremely expensive. (Donations can be made online).

“We’ve been to Worlds 17 times, and this year, I feel that we have a really solid shot at the World Championship Impact Award,” said Weisbord. “It’s really a testament to the hard work of our students and mentors that we can compete at this level.”