The 2023 Elementary VEX IQ Competition took place on Saturday, January 28, 2023, at Virgil Mills Elementary School in Palmetto.
The VEX IQ Competition, presented by the Robotics Education & Competition Foundation, is the largest and fastest growing elementary and middle school robotics program globally. Each year, an exciting engineering challenge is presented in the form of a game.
Students, with guidance from their teachers and mentors, build innovative robots and compete year-round.
The VEX IQ competition is an annual event for elementary and middle school students, but this was the first of its kind competition at Virgil Mills Elementary School.
The event was well organized by the STEM teacher and VEX Coach, Lynne Johnston, and allowed 23 student teams to compete for trophies and a chance to qualify for the North/Central Florida Region VEX IQ Elementary State Championship.
Designing, building robots and competing in this year’s Slapshot game was a valuable form of education and application of the engineering design process. Additionally, these students are now well-prepared for the School District of Manatee County’s VEX IQ Slapshot Competition on Tuesday, February 14, 2023.
The schools that participated in this event include: Virgil Mills Elementary School, Gilbert W. McNeal Elementary School, Gene Witt Elementary School, Braden River Elementary School and Rowlett Magnet Elementary School.
"We are very proud of our students, who worked hard and showcased their robotics skills in driving and coding challenges," said STEM Coordinator Jennifer McManis. "It was exciting to watch teams form alliances and work together to score the greatest number of points."
Additionally, students, parents, staff, and community volunteers assisted in making this an enjoyable and well-organized event.
The following awards were given out:
Excellence Award – 54705B Witt (Regional Qualifier)
Teamwork Champion Award – 54705B Witt and 34202A McNeal (Regional Qualifier)
Teamwork 2nd Place Award - 7200E Mills and 34202D McNeal
Teamwork 3rd Place Award – 54705E Witt and 34202B McNeal
Design Award – 7200B Mills (Regional Qualifier)
Robot Skills Champion – 54705D Witt
Robot Skills 2nd Place – 54705A Witt
Robot Skills 3rd Place – 54705E Witt
Judges Award – 34202B McNeal
