Two Manatee County elementary schools just returned from an international competition.
The 2022 VEX Robotics World Championship, presented by Northrop Grumman Foundation and the REC Foundation, brought over 3,000 teams from 36 nations together to celebrate STEM excellence.
Student-led teams ranging from elementary to university-level showcased their game strategy, teamwork, and desire to be crowned champions at this world-class global event held at the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center in Dallas, Texas.
The competition provides elementary and middle school students with exciting, open-ended robotics challenges that enhance their science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) skills through hands-on, student-centered learning.
The VEX IQ Game Challenge “Pitching In” is played on a 6’ x 8’ rectangular field and the object of the game is to design and build a robot to score as many points as possible, by placing yellow 3” diameter balls into either a low goal or a high goal. Students can score via driving challenges (remote controlled robot), programming challenge (coding the robot to perform this task), and teamwork challenges, where two teams form an alliance and add up their scores.
All of the Florida teams who participated in the VEX robotics World Championship.
One team from Willis Elementary School and one from Mills Elementary School had the honor of qualifying and competing on the world stage. Students from each school were tasked to participate in 7 teamwork matches, individual robot driving skills, and individual program skills. Additionally, students submitted their carefully crafted notes about the engineering design and robot building process. Both teams performed admirably and met teams from all over the world to form alliances and score.
It was amazing to see how the 4th and 5th graders handled the competition and how excited they were to participate. They were led by their amazing coaches Hanna Cuervo, Jennifer Hubley, and Lynne Johnston, who dedicated many hours and resources to lead their students to success.
Ms. Cuervo:
“Team Bloopin’ Bots from Willis Elementary consisting of Noah Johnson, Danica Hall, Alisa Sabodash, and Finley Hendricks earned the 19th spot in their division finals top 20. During the division finals, the Bloopin’ Bots finished 9th in the Teamwork Challenge. This team worked hard to rebuild their entire robot after inspiration from other top scoring teams that they met at the FL Regional Competition. They already had a catapult robot, but they knew they needed a faster, more accurate catapult in order to be able to compete with the high-level competitors that they would see at VEX Worlds. Our drivers spent hours collaborating with other teams across the world and made even more changes to their robot and driving techniques in Dallas with advice from other teams and coaches. Each team member has been encouraging and positive throughout this entire season. This team has learned to bounce back from mistakes and setbacks quickly. They are always having fun! Winning isn’t everything, but it has been fun to see their hard work pay off!”
Ms. Johnston:
“The Mills Robotics team shined in the Skills portion of the competition, placing 161st out of 482 teams!! The Technology Tornadoez from Mills Elementary School is made up of two 5th grade drivers, Lyndon Baker and Avery Mousseau, as well as two 4th graders, programmer Ty Cracker, and lead builder Lorelei Theisen. This team has shown impressive cooperation throughout the school year, designing, and redesigning their robot multiple times to meet the needs of this year’s game. All four students showed incredible perseverance and teamwork at VEX World Championships and the experience is one they will never forget. We are thankful to everyone who helped to make this trip possible.”
This #ManateeSchoolsGoodNews was submitted by STEM coordinator Jennifer McManis.