Arlington Hosts VEX IQ Tournament, Advances to State Competition

Inaugural event highlights district’s growth in STEM education

JACKSON, Tenn. - Jackson-Madison County Schools and community partners across the Hub City teamed up on Saturday to host the inaugural Arlington Winter Classic, a VEX IQ robotics tournament composed of schools from across middle and west Tennessee. Robotics team 47141B the “TN Titans” representing Arlington Elementary School has advanced to the Tennessee VEX IQ Elementary School State Championship.

“I was excited because this was my first time in the robotics competition, and I had a good feeling about it,” said Fabian Taylor, a member of the Arlington team. Prior to the tournament, teams built a robot, documented their process in an engineering notebook, and potentially programmed their robot to score points autonomously.

“The community and Superintendent King have been immensely supportive of our efforts to offer robotics and STEM at the elementary school level. We’re grateful to all of the volunteers who donated time and resources to support this tournament,” said Dr. Shemon Reaves, principal of Arlington Elementary School.

Qualifying matches were a six-hour process in which each robot ran an individualized competition schedule as they competed in 1-minute matches to score points by moving game elements to specific positions on the field. At the end of the qualifying matches, the top teams played in the finals to determine the teamwork champions.

“Whether it’s Denmark, JASA, or Arlington, we have kids out here with skills and abilities to do this. They’re going to build on this experience and knowledge,” said Mr. Bobby Smith, 4th grade math and science teacher at Arlington. Mr. Smith also serves as the STEM coach.

Chick-fil-A, Starbucks, and Lane College provided refreshments for the numerous volunteers necessary to host the all-day tournament. Several Advanced Maintenance Technician students from Jackson State Community College served as referees and judges.

States Molly Plyler, Director of STEM and Science, “Competitive robotics is a wonderful way for students to learn content related to engineering, computer programming, math, and science. This event was a win for our school district and our community.”