WACC To Host Fourth Annual Vex Robotics Exibit
WARSAW — Warsaw Community Schools invites you to attend the fourth annual Warsaw Robotics Vex Exhibition Tournament Friday, May 12. The event will begin at 5 p.m. and will conclude around 9:30 p.m. in the Warsaw Area Career Center gym.
The tournament will feature two teams from Edgewood Middle School, coached by Abbi Richcreek; one team from Lakeview Middle School, coached by Justin Weaver; 19 teams from the WACC, coached by Paul Zakaria, Marc Huffer and Sharon Metz; four teams from Washington, coached by David Burden and Patrick Hazelton; and up to 10 teams from outside school systems.
Students participating in the event have been given six weeks to build their Vex robots for the tournament. The challenges students face during the event change each year in conjunction with the theme. This year’s theme is “Hoopla.”
Teams will compete at least six times in qualifying rounds before being ranked. At that point, the top eight teams pick two alliances and the finals begin. Tournament champions (three alliances) will be determined with two wins in the finals. There will be tournament runner-ups for the second-place alliance.
Each team involved in the tournament has approximately 2-5 students involved. Teams work together to demonstrate the design process as they design and build their own robot based on the challenge constraints. Referees inspect these robots before the teams play. Robots that do not pass inspection are unable to participate. If a team does not pass their inspection, they are able to revise their design until it does pass the rules.
“This is our fourth year of hosting this competition for our students and other local communities. Each year the event is a different challenge,” explained Richcreek. “I believe this is a great opportunity to promote STEM within our schools. Students are demonstrating their problem solving and engineering skills while collaborating with others.”
The student registration cost for the event is the donation of canned food items. A community service award will be granted to the team that donates the most items (measured by weight). Donated goods will be given to Combined Community Services.
No admission fee will be charged for the event and concessions will be available from 5- 7 p.m.