VEXMN.COM Goes Live as the State Competition Draws Near
Our objective with the website was to put everything teams and students need in one place as well as make it easier for donors, sponsors and volunteers.
Whether this year’s competition will be in-person, virtual or a hybrid of sorts is still undetermined. However, both Barker and Dahlen say it hasn’t put a damper on participation.
To date, we’ve had XXX teams sign up, which is above 2020 levels.
VEX MN exists under the Robotics Education & Competition (REC) Foundation. REC brings this exciting experience to students all over the globe through the VEX IQ Challenge, VEX Robotics Competition, and VEX U. Coordinating with the REC Foundation, VEX MN plans and organizes all the events in Minnesota. These events include:
- tournaments
- camps
- coach workshops AND
- event partner summit.
The state competition leads to the National and then World Championship. The annual championship consists of five individual programs that these student-led teams qualify for and compete in through a series of challenges catered to each program’s age and skill level. World Champions will be crowned in the following five programs: the VEX IQ Challenge Elementary School World Championship, the VEX IQ Challenge Middle School World Championship, the VEX Robotics Competition Middle School World Championship, the VEX Robotics Competition High School World Championship, and the VEX U World Championship – the university-level program.
“The VEX Robotics World Championship is a true celebration of the hard work and dedication of these inspiring teams,” said Jason Morrella, president of the REC Foundation. “Over the years we’ve had tremendous success with growing the global student STEM community, from helping solve the workforce development problems many industries face, impacting real change in society through our Girl Powered initiative, to receiving a Guinness World Record title for creating the largest, most inclusive robotics competition in the world. We’re incredibly excited to host our 10th World Championship, and we’re looking forward to finding new ways to engage educators and spark students’ curiosity and life-long passion for STEM.”
With 1,400 teams competing in this year’s competition, the VEX Robotics World Championship will showcase leading talent from over 30 countries, including teams from Haiti, Spain, China, Canada, the United States and more.
“There is an incredibly powerful shift that you will see in students when it comes to their interest and understanding of STEM subjects, through their involvement in VEX Robotics,” said Paul Copioli, president of VEX Robotics. “Not only are these students improving their STEM aptitude and developing computer science skills through programming, but through VEX Competitions, they are learning about different cultures and countries of origin, and they must find ways to problem solve and work together to achieve the greatest possible success. As a result, these students walk away having had a far richer, life-changing experience.”
The event begins with the Middle and High School VEX Robotics Competition and VEX U World Championship events where middle school, high school and university teams compete in a series of back to back matches from April 19-22 in Louisville, KY. Opening ceremonies will occur on Thursday, April 20 and the event will conclude with the finals and 2017-2018 New Game Unveil on Saturday, April 22. Following the completion of these World Championship events, the opening ceremonies for the Elementary and Middle School VEX IQ Challenge World Championship events will commence on Monday, April 24 and will close with the finals and 2017-2018 New Game Unveil on Tuesday, April 25.
The VEX Robotics World Championship is presented by the REC Foundation and the Northrup Grumman Foundation, and is sponsored by Autodesk, Chevron, Dell EMC, NASA, Google, Texas Instruments, HEXBUG, Robomatter, Rack Solutions and Innovation First International. For more information, please visit RoboticsEducation.org/VEXworlds.
About the Robotics Education & Competition Foundation | The REC Foundation seeks to increase student interest and involvement in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by engaging students in hands-on, sustainable and affordable curriculum-based robotics engineering programs across the U.S. and internationally. The REC Foundation develops partnerships with K-12 education, higher education, government, industry, and the non-profit community to achieve this work. For more information, please visit http://www.RoboticsEducation.org or for details on upcoming events, please visit http://www.RobotEvents.com.
About VEX Robotics | VEX Robotics is a leading provider of educational and competitive robotics products to schools, universities and robotics teams around the world. Their VEX IQ and VEX EDR product lines span elementary, middle, and high schools with accessible, scalable, and affordable robotics solutions. Beyond science and engineering principles, a VEX Robotics project encourages teamwork, leadership and problem solving among groups. It allows educators to easily customize projects to meet the level of students’ abilities as they inspire & prepare the STEM problem-solvers of tomorrow.
VEX Robotics is a leading provider of educational and competitive robotics products to schools, universities and robotics teams around the world. Their VEX IQ and VEX EDR product lines span elementary, middle, and high schools with accessible, scalable, and affordable robotics solutions. Beyond science and engineering principles, a VEX Robotics project encourages teamwork, leadership and problem solving among groups. It allows educators to easily customize projects to meet the level of students’ abilities as they inspire & prepare the STEM problem-solvers of tomorrow.
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