After a hectic six weeks of building, BG’s Team 811 has begun competing with this year’s robot, "Sir Lancebot."

The team attended the Granite State District Event from March 4-6 at Windham High School and received the Gracious Professionalism Award.

The Cardinals will attend their second district event at Boston University from April 1-3 and are hoping to advance to the World Championship in St. Louis for the third consecutive year.

Sixty-seven BG students work on six sub-teams and are guided by 25 mentors as they design and build a robot for the given challenge.

After recruiting new members at the beginning of the school year, the robotics team attends several post-season competitions from October through December and prepares for the kickoff of the new season. On kickoff day, the new challenge is revealed and the team spends all day working.

Once the new season is underway, Team 811 works up to six days a week for six weeks, culminating in "bag day," when the robot must be sealed in a plastic bag by midnight.

The lead mentor on the team is computer teacher Tom Indelicato, who is assisted by a number of parent mentors. Seniors Gracie Hannabach and Samantha Beauchemin are the student leads, and each sub-team has its own leads.

Sophomore Grace Buttrick is a co-lead for the mech sub-team and said the excitement of competition is her favorite part of the season.

"The most fun part of robotics for me is to go to competitions and see all our hard work being put to the ultimate test," she said. "You are putting everything out there on the field … it is the most relieving feeling ever to know that your team’s hard work has all paid off."

According to the Team 811 website, the team’s success "is measured not so much in the numerous trophies and accolades we’ve earned, but in the long list of students who have done amazing things after graduating from our team."

With its growing roster and strong performance, the team hopes to fulfill the purpose of the FIRST Robotics program: to "inspire young people to be to be science and technology leaders."

Holly Boivin is a sophomore at Bishop Guertin High School in Nashua.