Shelton's FLL^® History began in 2002 with the City Sites and Mission Mars challenges. The Shelton High School FIRST Robotics Team, FRC 230, The Gaelhawks, did not interact with the Intermediate School Team until the 2003-2004 No Limits challenge when mentors from the robotics team took over the helm.

During the season of the 2004-2005 Ocean Odyssey game the Shelton Intermediate School Team, The Thundering Tigers, were born. The name no doubt coincided with the fact that Gaelhawks became involved in managing a CT State FLL Qualifying Event in conjunction with the University of Bridgeport to be held on their campus.  Since Bridgeport is the birth place of P.T. Barnum they event coordinators adopted the name Circus Robotix for this event and to follow along with this theme the FLL team decided on the the tiger name they currently use, that and the orange and black of the tiger matched to the school colors.

The Thundering Tigers have had their share of success over the years. Generally speaking they have won awards in all the subsequent challenges, 2005-2006 Nano Quest, 2006-2007 Power Puzzle, 2007-2008 Climate Connections. 2008-2009 Smart Move, and 2010-2011 Body Forward to earn their way into the CT State Championship Competition.

By keeping the same name throughout the years, along with their highly visible orange and white tie-dyed shirts they have they have become very recognizable at all of the competitions they attend.

In the 2008-2009 challenge, Smart Move, the Shelton School system fielded a 2nd FLL team comprised mostly of Middle School underclassmen. In a nod to their "parent" organization, with enough distinction to stand out they dubbed themselves The Thundering Tigers Revolution. In 2008 the venue for Circus Robotix was moved from the University of Bridgeport to the Shelton Intermediate School. Conflicts with their gymnastic team events prompted the move.
 

FLL continues to grow in Shelton. With the opening of a 5th/6th grade school, Perry Hill School another team was added for the 2009-2010 Body Forward challenge, the Perry Hill Dominators, PHDs.  The 2011-2012 season will also see a second Perry Hill School team.

The 2011-2012 season brought international recognition to our town.  Despite severe weather events that impacted much of the build time the Robotic Revolution, re branded from the Thundering Tigers Revolution, along with Team Moderately Confused from Dublin, OH went on to claim top prize for their Smart Sticker product as part of the FIRST^® Global Innovation Award on June 19, 2012.  The team is anxious to turn their Smart Sticker idea into a product.  All of the teams, the Thundering Tigers, the Robotic Revolution, the Perry Hill Dominators, and the Perry Hill Predators did extremely well both on the field and in judging this year.

A fifth Shelton Team joined in the fun for the 2012-2013 season, the St. Joseph’s School Challengers.  This rookie team took FLL Core Values to heart and earned themselves a spot at the CT FLL State Championship where they along with 3 of the other Shelton Teams performed above par.

In the 2012-2013 Nature’s Fury challenge two teams, the SIS Robotic Revolution and the Perry Hill Dominators earned their Golden Tickets to the State Championship.  The Perry Hill team went the extra mile with a 1^st place Champions Award win.  Both teams went on to win awards at the state level, the Robotic Revolution walked out with a 2nd place Presentation Award, and the Dominators, true to their form this year, won all of the marbles with a 1st Place Championship Award.  This entitled them to compete at the FLL Invitational at Carlsbad California  along with many other international teams.

In 2013-2014 World Class challenge all four competing Shelton Teams earned Golden Tickets. In addition the Dominators won the 1^st Place Champions Award, the Brainiacs the 2^nd Place, and the Predators the Robot Design Award. At the State Championship the Dominators scored well earning a 3^rd Place finish in addition to the Teamwork Award. A vvery successful year for Shelton!

In the 2014-2015 Trash Trek Challenge all four Shelton teams competed at the State Championship.   The Dominators won the Champions Award and the 1st Place Performance Award at the FLL Shelton Qualifying Event. The Brainiacs won the 2nd Place Champions Award to earn their Golden Ticket and the Predators, buoyed by their adherence to FLL Core Values, earned a Golden Ticket as well.

Taking a step out of their comfort zone the newly renamed Circuit Breakers team competed in the New Haven FLL Qualifying and walked away with the Performance Award and the Champions Award.

Success followed three of these teams at the CT FLL State Championship; the Circuit Breakers earned a 3rd Place Championship Award and the Predators the Presentation Award.  Not to be left out the Dominators earned the Programming Award.

All of the Shelton Teams have seen there share of success with one or more earning a Golden Ticket every year thanks mainly to their adherence to FLL^® Core Vales and a tremendous amount of support from their coaches, parents, and mentors.

All of the Shelton teams work cooperatively for the first couple of sessions in a new season before diverging to work independently on their robot construction, mission strategies, and project.  Every team will have Team 230 students, alumni, and mentors, along with some very dedicated parents to help them out.

In the 2015-2016 Animal Allies Challange one Shelton team SIStematic won the New Haven FLL Qualifying Event Champions’ and Robot Performance Awards earning a Golden Ticket to the State Championship.  At the Shelton FLL Qualifying Event the Brainiacs and Predators qualified for Golden Tickets and Mr. Josh Cayer was named the winner of the Lou Smecker Memorial Mentor Award.

Sucess continued at the State Championship where SIStematic won the 1st Place Champions’ Award.

In addition to FLL program participation Shelton FLL teams reach further by participating in many community volunteer activities such as the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

The 2016-2017 season with the HYDRO DYNAMICS Challange proved to be another successful season for Shelton.  All four teams qualified for the State Championship including a surprise independent team of forth graders mentored by parents of some of the FLL participants.  The Brainiacs won the Robot Design Award and the Predators a 2nd Place Champions’ Award at Shelton, along with the Ring Masters Award for the Lego Leopards.  In New Haven PerSIStence scoured the Core Values Award and SIStematic the Champions’ Award.

At State’s that year PerSIStence earned a Judges’ Award, the Lego Leopards the 1st Place Presentation Award, and SIStematic for the 2nd time in a row the 1st Place Champions’ Award.

In an effort to share the secrets of this successful program Shelton FLL will be hosting seminars and FLL workshops in the off season.

The 2018-2019 Into Orbit season 4 of 5 Shelton Teams qualified for the Connecticut State Championship and all 4 received awards.  Team 3532 the Predators were the Champions award winners and attended the Detroit World Festival bringing back many new ideas they can’t wait to implement in the upcoming season.  Team 3529 took the 2nd Place Champions Award, Team 38354 Techniq won the Inovative Solution Award, and Team 3533 were given a Judges’ Award for their excellant performance in all judging categories.

The 2019-2020 City Shaper season was another banner year for Shelton FLL Teams.  All five teams earned Golden Tickets at three different Qualifying Events.  FLL 3530 Resistors were awarded the Champions Award, the Performance Award, a Golden Ticket and FLL 3532 won the Project Presentation Award and a Golden Ticket at the FLL NH Qualifying Event - Robo Fest.  At the FLL Wolcott Qualifier - Where is Wolcott Invitational, FLL 38354 Techniq took home the Teamwork Awar and a Golden Ticket, and FLL 3529 Persistence the Robot Design Award and a Golden Ticket. In Shelton at the Circus Robotix Qualifying Event FLL 3533 earned a Core Values Award and a Golden Ticket.

At the 2019 FLL CT State Championship the Brainiacs won 1st Place in Strategy and Innovation in the Robot Design category, the Resistors the 2nd Place Champions Award and were selected as a candidate for the Global Innovation Award.  The Preditors took home the most bling with a 1st Place Performance Award and a 1st Place Champions™ Award.  They were all set to represent Conneticut at the World Festival in Detroit but the season was cut short due the the Covid-19 pandemic.

Shelton Mentors were also given some well deserved recognition at the State Championship.  Ria Dalvi was presented with the Student Coach/Mentor Award and Laurie Vogl the Adult Coach/Mentor Award.

The 2020-2021 2020 RePlay Challenge season was a complete wash for Shelton FLL.  Due to the pandemic teams were unable to meet in person.  Efforts to do something virtually did not pan out.  Connecticut FLL was unable to organize a virtual events.

So far in the 2021-2022 Cargo Connect season Shelton FLL has ben able to organize three (3) teams.  They are looking forward to a more normal FLL season.  Fingers crossed.

The 2021-2022 Cargo Connect Season was good for Shelton Teams.  FLL 3530 Resistors and FLL 3532 Predators punched their Golden Tickets at the Wolcott Qualifying Event and FLL 38354 TechnIQ earned theirs at the Tolland Qualifying Event taking home additional bling as well.

At the State Championship, relocated to Glastonbury, all three teams performed really well.  TechnIQ earned a Judges’ Awardm the Resistors a 2nd Place Innovation Project Award, and all three teams scored high in the Robot Game.

The 2022-2023 SuperPowered Season is shaping up.  Shelton will field three teams:  FLL 3530 Resistors, 3532 Predators, and 38354 TechnIQ.  With new venues coming on board it looks like 2022-2023 is shaping up to be an awesome season.

And it was!  FLL 3532, rernamed as the Shelton Vipers this season  earned a Golden Ticket at the Elm City Robo Fest along with the Innovation Project Award.  FLL 38354 TechniQ punched their ticket at the Big Bird Bridge Bonanza in Farmington, and FLL 3530, the Resistors, got theirs at the Where Is Wolcott Invitational.

All three teams did a great job at the 2022 CT FLL State Championship.  TechniQcame home with a Judges’ Award based on their outreach in teaching students on the other terams in Shelton FLL programming, and both the Resistors and the Vipers were rated as Champions, with the Resistors taking 4th Place and the Vipers the coveted 1st Place slot.  They will be Houston bound in April for the World Festival.