DALLAS, TX (NewsDakota.com) – Four students—Joseph Bata, Christian Pilgrim, Andrew Kenney, Tucker Killoran—and Coach Derek Bear represented Maple Valley School District at the VEX IQ Robotics World Championship in Dallas, Texas. Competing in the Math Division, the team placed 34th out of 83 international teams.
Among all elementary teams present, Maple Valley earned an overall global ranking of 160th. This is especially impressive considering there were over 30,961 VEX Robotics teams worldwide this season, with around 10,000 in the Elementary VEX IQ Division.
Coach Bear shared:
“Some of the highlights I’d like to mention include scoring season-high scores while partnering with teams from Australia and Singapore. Watching our boys interact, strategize, and communicate with international teams was great to see. At one point, we were ranked 4th, which really motivated the team to push even harder. We never expected to perform this well in our first year and I believe this success will spark even more student interest next season. The bar has been set high, and we’re excited to rise to the challenge of next years game! I’m very proud of these boys.”
Student Reflections:
Favorite part of Worlds:
- “Seeing the new game”
- “Meeting all the different countries and competing with the best in the world”
Favorite part of robotics:
- “Driving and building your robot”
- “Competitions are really fun”
Goals for next year:
- “Make it to Worlds again!”
- “Make it to finals in the big dome!”
The VEX IQ Robotics Competition fosters student development of teamwork, collaboration, critical thinking, project management, and communication skills required to prepare them to become the next generation of innovators and problem solvers.
More information about the VEX Robotics Competition is available at recf.org.
