Team 971 was founded in 2002 by a group of interested Seniors who approached the science and technology teacher. During this game, Zone Zeal, 971 had a robot that seeded 16th at the Silicon Valley Regional and was a NASA grant team.  In the 2003 game, Stack Attack, 971 seeded 28th at SVR and 8th at Sacramento, picking 951 and 1072 for its alliance partners.  The team went on to World Championships and seeded 67th in the Curie division.  This group led the team for two years after the founding, until the AP physics teacher took over and the founding members graduated.