The A Team consists of Connor Brandt, Gage Zwayer, Lucien Hendrickson, Jared Smith and Jobe Starks.
(Photo submitted)
––––
Members of the North Union Robotics teams are getting ready to compete in the World Championship event in Louisville, Kentucky. The VEX IQ is set for April 23, 30 and May 1.
This championship is the largest educational robotics competition in the world. Over 1,000 teams from 32 different countries have qualified for this event and it represents the highest seven percent of all teams worldwide.
North Union High School has three teams that will be attending the Vex Robotics World Championship.
Team 6008A, “The A Team,” consists of Connor Brandt, Gage Zwayer, Lucien Hendrickson, Jared Smith and Jobe Starks. They have won tournament championships at three different events and received one design award. They qualified for the world event with their online challenge. It is similar to an “extra credit project.” There were 11 different challenges available and this team chose the recycling design challenge. They used old playing parts from seven different games to create a sensory table for the elementary school special needs room.
Team 6008D, “Delta Force,” team members are Avery Zwayer, Dalton Skaggs, Gavin Zwayer, Derek Ballinger, Logan Suiter and Madaline Ardrey. They earned the excellence award at seven different competitions, tournament champs at four different competitions and the highest skills score award one time. The Excellence Award is the highest honor given and represents the best overall team in performance, notebook and interview. They also complete two online challenges and place in the top ten both times.
Team 6008Z, “The Blind Squirrels,” are made up of Nathan Skeins, Deven Deickert, Cameron Troesch, Gabe Burggraf and Hunter Spitzer. This team has been extremely successful this year. They won tournament champion at three different competitions, one design award and one judge’s award. They made it to semifinals at the State Championship, qualifying them for Worlds. Their skills scores represent one robot working for one minute trying for highest possible score. The scores for driver skills and autonomous skills are added together for the highest possible total.
There are also two more North Union teams attending the World Competition. The North Union Middle School team of Savannah Queen, Lindsay Wills, Owen Hoffer and Rylan Keever will be attending the World event, along with Team 28101A, an elementary school team of Troy Harvey, Graham Price, Kaylee Rensel and Madelyn Taylor.
All five North Union Robotics teams are making last minute adjustments and securing funds to pay for the trip to Louisville, Kentucky. They are hosting a pancake breakfast April 7 from 7 to 11 a.m. at North Union High School. Residents will be able to meet the teams, and experience building their own VEX IQ robots.