Last weekend, Greenville High School VEX Robotics team, The Iron Cowboys, 4148B, represented by Nicolas Hazlett, Xavier Dean, Raymond McClure, Ryan Bakkum , Ryan Garland, Corey Hargraves, Dan Price, Nicholas Torres and Noah Farkosh, attended the CREATE U.S. Open Robotics Championship in Council Bluffs, IA. The team bounced back from a rough first day of competition to make it to the quarterfinals of the competition. The team leaves this weekend to compete in the 2015 VEX Robotics World Championship in Louisville, KY.
“It has been a long robotics season so far, going all the way back to April 2014 when this year's game Skyrise was announced for the first time. Since then then GHS VEX robotics team 4148, The Iron Cowboys, has been hard at work in their third year of official competition. All of that hard work comes down to the center point of the season, the VEX Robotics World Championship in Louisville, KY,” said Robotics Program Director grades 9-12, Adrienne Emerson.
The Iron Cowboys used the competition as an opportunity to debut their newly designed robot and start the final preparations for the World Championship event this weekend. After struggling to work out some technical problems on the first day, the Iron Cowboys showed perseverance and rallied around their functioning robot on the second day of competition. The team was selected by the 15th seed and went on to play into the quarterfinals before being eliminated.
“We are definitely new to building scissor lifts and learned a tremendous amount this weekend culminating with qualification match 199 where we put up six game pieces in a staggering 60 seconds."
Despite being eliminated earlier than expected, the team's stamina never faltered. Upon their return to Greenville, the team began working tirelessly through the weekend to continue iterating and making improvements to ensure that they leave Louisville with no regrets.
The GHS VEX robotics program is in its third season, with this year going down as one of the team’s best seasons. The program was started by Emerson in the 2012-2013 school year. Since then, the program has gone from 10 students to 45 students. Due to the program’s rapid growth, GISD hired the team's new coach, Colin Nobles. With 3 tournament wins and 6 design awards it has been the team's most successful season.
“Personally, I am so proud watching the success of the team this season. I love the robotics program at the high school because it provides the students with the opportunity to start with an idea and see it all the way through to reality with only minimal guidance from teachers. This is a prime example of superintendent, Don Jefferies, Product Oriented Education model,” said Emerson.
For more information on the VEX Robotics program at Greenville High School, please contact Colin Nobles at noblesc@greenvilleisd.com.
