JCS 7th Grade headed to VEX Robotics Competition

JEFFERSON — The seventh grade is taking part in a brand new venture at Jefferson Central School!  Students have been working on coding using VEX IQ robotics in 7th grade class.  They competed at this year’s VEX Robotics Competition on February 8th in Liverpool, NY.  Students were challenged to build a robot to compete in this year’s competition game, Rapid Relay, where they have to score as many goals as they can using the 4 targets within 1 minute.  There are three tasks played throughout the day that contribute to a final score.  One task has teams randomly paired up to score goals, another task is only their team tries to score goals, and the final task has teams coding their robot to score goals autonomously (self-driving).

The 7th graders have been working since October to familiarize themselves with the VEX IQ robots and coding platform.  They then started to apply this knowledge to the Rapid Relay game in November.  The two teams (Red and White) have worked tirelessly to practice and work out the bugs in their bots.  The Robo-Hawks exceeded all expectations with both teams qualifying for state championships!

The Robohawks White team won the Think Award which recognizes the most effective and consistent use of coding techniques and programming design. This award qualifies the team for States competition on March 5th. 

The Robohawks Red team won the Judges Award which allows the judges to recognize a standout team for a few reasons including overcoming a challenge or obstacle and achieving a goal. This award allows them to receive an invitation to championships as other teams took home more than one qualifying award! 

The Robo-hawks leave bright and early on March 5th to compete once again at the SRC Arena in Syracuse for state Championships!