The VEX competition is one of the activities run by Dragons Robotics, a club with 65 student, said Shelli Brasher, a Collierville teacher and the coach of the club.
Collierville students first built a VEX robot in the fall of 2014 and officially launched a VEX team in August, Brasher said. On Saturday, Collierville students won a championship in Nashville. "For them to be at this level so quickly is just mind-boggling to me," Brasher said. "It's not me doing it, it's them. They spend hours upon hours upon hours."
Corporate sponsorships for the robotics program cover some costs, but parents still must pick up some of the bill. Competitions through VEX, which uses simpler robots, are significantly less expensive than another series of robotics competitions in which Collierville participates, FIRST Robotics. "That also gives students more of an opportunity to participate."
The students who won the VEX Robotics competition this weekend took part in an event called "Nothing but net" in which their robot had to put foam balls into goals, said Peter Ortner, a Nashville high school engineering teacher and coordinator for the competition. The robots had to run on their own for 15 seconds and were under remote control for the rest of the contest period.
The contest rules required each team to form alliances with other teams they met at the competition site. The Collierville team won the championship in alliance with students from Nashville-area Brentwood Academy, Ortner said.
The Collierville team will advance to the world championship, scheduled for April 20-23 in Louisville, Kentucky. The high school division will include 450 teams from as far away as China, Puerto Rico and New Zealand, Ortner said.
In the meantime, the students will have a new place to practice. The robotics team is moving its equipment from a warehouse into the former site of the Collierville campus of the University of Memphis.
The school system said these students are headed to the international championship: David Boers, Scott Brooks, Grace Capooth, Josh Cole, Nate Gerjets, Cameron Hayden, Tyler Mimes, Justice Maravilla, Sebastian Mobo, Anjali Padiyar, Luis Rey, Sawyer Wiegant and Gemia Williams.
Brasher said the team is still looking for corporate or individual sponsors. She can be reached via [email protected]
Collierville students first built a VEX robot in the fall of 2014 and officially launched a VEX team in August, Brasher said. On Saturday, Collierville students won a championship in Nashville. "For them to be at this level so quickly is just mind-boggling to me," Brasher said. "It's not me doing it, it's them. They spend hours upon hours upon hours."
Corporate sponsorships for the robotics program cover some costs, but parents still must pick up some of the bill. Competitions through VEX, which uses simpler robots, are significantly less expensive than another series of robotics competitions in which Collierville participates, FIRST Robotics. "That also gives students more of an opportunity to participate."
The students who won the VEX Robotics competition this weekend took part in an event called "Nothing but net" in which their robot had to put foam balls into goals, said Peter Ortner, a Nashville high school engineering teacher and coordinator for the competition. The robots had to run on their own for 15 seconds and were under remote control for the rest of the contest period.
The contest rules required each team to form alliances with other teams they met at the competition site. The Collierville team won the championship in alliance with students from Nashville-area Brentwood Academy, Ortner said.
The Collierville team will advance to the world championship, scheduled for April 20-23 in Louisville, Kentucky. The high school division will include 450 teams from as far away as China, Puerto Rico and New Zealand, Ortner said.
In the meantime, the students will have a new place to practice. The robotics team is moving its equipment from a warehouse into the former site of the Collierville campus of the University of Memphis.
The school system said these students are headed to the international championship: David Boers, Scott Brooks, Grace Capooth, Josh Cole, Nate Gerjets, Cameron Hayden, Tyler Mimes, Justice Maravilla, Sebastian Mobo, Anjali Padiyar, Luis Rey, Sawyer Wiegant and Gemia Williams.
Brasher said the team is still looking for corporate or individual sponsors. She can be reached via [email protected]