PLYMOUTH – Merrimack High School’s FIRST Robotics competition team, Chop Shop 166, won the Governor’s Cup Award on Sept. 26.

The award recognizes excellence in community outreach, team dynamics, school and sponsor relationships, STEM enthusiasm, technical abilities and robot performance.

“We are truly honored to be recognized for Chop Shop’s efforts over the last year,” said Christine Delande, lead mentor of Chop Shop 166. “Winning the Governor’s Cup is important to our team because seniors on the winning team earn one free semester of tuition to any New Hampshire public college.

In the competition portion of the event, Chop Shop played in four qualification matches, winning all four and advancing to be Captain of the Alliance #1. The team made it to the finals but were eliminated in the final round of the best-of-three match up.

“This year’s Governor’s Cup went great for Chop Shop,” said Abbott, captain of Chop Shop 166. “We ended the qualification matches in first place, putting us captain of Alliance #1, where we were eliminated in the finals. Throughout the event we tried new drive teams and pit crews teaching the new students in the team how the event works and how the robot is repaired between matches. Overall, the event went amazing.”

Nina Champigny, a senior on the team, won the Bring Back the Trades Inc. Scholarship, which recognizes outstanding students who are pursuing careers in skilled trades.

“My very first introduction into the trades was through the FIRST program, where after four years of switching between technical and nontechnical subjects, I found myself in front of a little green table lathe,” said Champigny, technical lead of Chop Shop 166. “That machine shop became my second home, and the sole reason I am pursuing a career as a machinist after graduation. Without it, I would have never discovered that machining even existed, or that I love it as much as I do.”