Robotics
Club members include, from left, Maddie Cramer, freshman; Alyx
Hamilton-Johnson, sophomore; Rheanna Witte, sophomore; Naddelynne Ferguson,
sophomore; Marissa Witte, seventh grade, and Kim Schroeter, club adviser. Not
pictured is Payton Ferguson, eighth grade. Members of the Robotics Club at Mansfield Senior High School battled their way to their best showing ever at Saturday’s Highland Fighting Scot Invitational VEX Robotics Tournament at Highland High School near Sparta.
The Tygers – four high school students and two from middle school – competed in a field of 41 teams from 12 schools.
The
competition required teams to program their robots, then maneuver them to stack
plastic blocks or lift and place them into a container. Points were scored by
the number of blocks achieved within a time limit.
“Our two teams made it to the finals for the first time ever. The teams competed in seven rounds and represented Mansfield City Schools well,” said math teacher Kimberlee Schroeter, who has been the Robotics Club adviser for five years.
“This was a set game. Everyone around the world competing in VEX was playing this game.”
Other high
schools competing in the Highland tournament included River Valley,
Brecksville-Broadview, Revere, Ridgedale Junior/Senior, Highland, Pickerington
North, Big Walnut, Wooster. Galion, Elmwood and Pleasant.
“Our Robotics Club meets after school on Mondays. We were competing against some schools who do this five days a week,” Schroeter said.
Jeff Cramer,
Senior High engineering teacher, helped to coach the teams. Three employees of
TE Connectivity in Mansfield also serve as volunteer coaches. They are Doug
Williams, Linda Nolasco and Kaden Brown, a 2017 Senior High graduate and former
member of the Robotics Team.
TE
Connectivity, which manufactures contactors for aerospace, defense and
marine-related vehicles at its plant on North Diamond Street, has been a
longtime supporter of the Robotics Club. A few years ago, TE Connectivity
donated $10,000 to the program.
“We look forward to our Robotics Club members continuing to move forward with their skills,” Schroeter said. “We will compete in the National Robotics challenge April 2-4 at Marion.”
VEX is a
registered trademark of Innovation First International, Inc. According to its
website, the VEX Robotics Competition is the largest and fastest growing middle
school and high school robotics program globally with more than 20,000 teams
from 50 countries playing in over 1,700 competitions worldwide.