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‘A lot of people praying for us’: Fauquier Co. teenage robotics club safe after Israel trip

Neal Augenstein | naugenstein@wtop.com

October 11, 2023, 12:01 PM

A Fauquier County, Virginia, robotics team, whose trip to Israel coincided with the start of the country’s war against Hamas — a group the State Department has designated a terrorist group — is expected to return home Wednesday.

Tim Stevic is a mentor with Team 1731, of the Fresta Valley Robotics Club — a high school robotics club that’s open to all private, public or home-schooled students. He said that the Fauquier County team has had a 10-year relationship with the Israeli team and its organizers, and had traveled to Israel earlier this month for an offseason competition.
“At 8:15 on Saturday morning, we heard a siren go off in Jerusalem, and were told this was not a drill, and that we had to take shelter,” Stevic said. “We learned that it was quite a big missile strike that was coming out of the Gaza Strip.”
Team 1731 in Israel 1/3
Yellow-clad members of the Fauquier County robotics club, with Israeli counterparts, in Hadera, Israel. (Courtesy Tim Stevic)
Stevic said the Israeli team’s organizers felt it was safe for the Virginia team to continue its travel plans that day to Masada, overlooking the Dead Sea. They did and Stevic said it was a really good trip, despite two sites they wanted to visit — Bethlehem and Jericho in the West Bank area — being closed.
“They decided to come down to Tel Aviv, and stay in a hostel, so we could all be together, and wait for our flights on Tuesday,” Stevic said.
While in the hostel in Tel Aviv, Stevic and the group learned flights were either being delayed or canceled.
“We were all scrambling, trying to find replacement flights,” Stevic said.
Amid the uncertainty, Stevic said the group took safety precautions.
“Having everybody stay off social media for the time that we were there, and assuring that no groups were out walking around because as you know, in a country like Israel, Americans can be a target,” Stevic said.
team 1731 group photo 2/3
All members of the Fauquier County-based group have safely left Israel. (Courtesy Tim Stevic)
Stevic said the entire group — eight students and 12 mentors and parents — was able to find alternative flights on Tuesday.
“So as of now, everybody is out. Some members have gotten back, but all the rest of the team should be back, tonight,” Stevic said.
In retrospect, Stevic describes the experience as “interesting, tense and anxious — maybe more so for the parents and mentors than it was for the high school students.”
team 1731 with israeli team 3/3
A group organizer for a Fauquier County robotics team says the team’s thoughts are with the Israeli people, including their young counterparts. (Courtesy Tim Stevic)
Stevic said the students handled the situation well, and they understood what was going on.
The group was bolstered by people from Virginia who were reaching out to them.
“We know that there was a lot of people that were praying for us, which we really appreciated,” he said.

Stevic said the group’s thoughts are with the Israeli people.

“We were able to come home — they have to stay there and live through this. We’re safe, and we’re maintaining contact with our friends in Israel,” Stevic said.

Neal Augenstein

Neal Augenstein has been a general assignment reporter with WTOP since 1997. He says he looks forward to coming to work every day, even though that means waking up at 3:30 a.m.

naugenstein@wtop.com

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