The Newton LigerBots won the FIRST Entrepreneurship Award at the FIRST District Competition at Bryant University in Rhode Island this weekend. This award recognizes the team’s “comprehensive business plan … to define, manage and achieve the team’s objectives” and “entrepreneurial enthusiasm and the vital business skills to ensure a self-sustaining program.”

Also, long-time LigerBots coach John Fitzpatrick was selected to receive the RI District Competition’s prestigious Woodie Flowers Finalist Award, which “celebrates effective communication in the art and science of engineering and design.” (At the end of the season, the worldwide Woodie Flowers Award will be selected at the FIRST Championship from among the Finalist Award recipients from each Regional or District Competition.)

In this weekend’s competition, the LigerBots were able to win a spot in an alliance for the quarter-finals but did not advance to the semi-finals.