MPS Brink Students Take Top Honors at the State VEX IQ Challenge and Seek Sponsorships for Nationals
M
oore Public Schools’ Brink Junior High Robotics VEX IQ Challenge team 11064B, 11064C, 11064D, secured Teamwork Champion, Robot Skills Champion, and Innovate Award at the Oklahoma State VEX IQ Challenge Championship in Tahlequah earlier this month. The contest was presented by the Robotics Education & Competition (REC) Foundation. Through these wins, the Brink teams have secured a spot to showcase their skills at the VEX Robotics World Championships May 8-10 in Dallas. Now, the 14 Brink Robotics students seek local sponsorships to offset the cost of attending the World Championships. “Our students have worked so hard to get to this point; any financial support that an individual or business can give is welcome. We need to raise $5,000 to cover the VEX World Championship entry fees for three teams and lodging. Our community is always so generous; everything helps and we’ll take any financial support through May 7,” said Brink VEX Team Advisor Kristina Morris.
In addition to building robots, the STEM Research Project component of the VEX IQ Challenge encourages students to actively explore an engineering challenge of their choice and share their research findings with event judges and their community. The VEX IQ Challenge 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. Brink Robotics VEX IQ Challenge team meets after school 2 days per week. They also attended 5 competitions throughout the school year. Our teams have won multiple awards this season, such as: Teamwork Champions, Robot Skills Champion, Excellence Award, Design Award, Judges’ Award, Innovate Award, Create Award, Inspire Award, Think Award, Energy Award, and Amaze Award. “Teamwork, problem-solving, and ingenuity are all on display at a VEX IQ Challenge event and students develop these skills all year long by participating on a robotics team,” said Dan Mantz, CEO of the REC Foundation. “Together, with the support of educators, coaches, and mentors, we’re fostering students’ passion for STEM at a young age to ensure that we have a generation that is dedicated to creating new discoveries and tackling life’s future challenges.”
Brink’s VEX IQ Challenge team is comprised of members ages 12 to 15. In the VEX IQ Challenge, students, with guidance from their teachers and mentors, build a robot using simple, snap-together VEX IQ parts to solve an engineering challenge that is presented To donate to the Brink VEX Roboteach year in the form of a game. ics teams’ VEX World ChampionTeams work together to score points in Teamwork Matches and get to ship trip contact Morris at kristinamorris@mooreschools.com. To learn show off their skills individually in driver-controlled and programming more about Moore Public Schools visit www.mooreschools.com. Robot Skills Challenges. 38 | MOORE MONTHLY | APRIL 2022
