BY KAREN BOSSICK
The sixth- and seventh-grade Robotics team at Wood River Middle School became the first team ever from Wood River to advance to their division finals in the 2018 VEX IQ World Robotics Competition held last week in Louisville, Ky.
The students—Kameron Perron, Preston Kendall, Finn Wolfrom, Dylan Benson, Colton Whitesell, Dawson Torres and Hayden Drake—won the Judges Award in a competition of the best of the best 400 Middle Schools from around the globe.
The team finished qualifying rounds with 1,716 cumulative points that ranked them thirteenth in their division. They then competed against 19 other top teams in the finals, allying themselves with a team from Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, Canada.
When all the point were tallied they ranked 56th out of 400 teams in total points scored, putting them in the top 15 percent of teams worldwide.
“This group of students mentored by Josh Perron of Durgs Automotive excelled. I couldn’t be happier with their commitment and dedication,” said Jeremy Silvis, the robotics coach at the Wood River Middle School.
Meanwhile, the Wood River High School teams did well going up against 580 high school teams from 40 countries.
Juniors Luke Dean and Ethan Wilson finished with a winning record of 6-4, which is the best the school has done in six trips to the world championships. They won seven of 10 autonomous rounds and finished strong, winning the last two matches behind Wilson’s flawless driving.
Their effort ranked them 33rd in the 96-team division.
“I was so happy I was crying,” said advisor Kevin Lupton. “All of these students were champions and award winners in their respective state country so it was a collection of the best of the best,” he added.
“Our freshman team of John Chen and Griffin Connelly were the first freshman-level team to ever qualify out of Idaho. They gained valuable experience against teams with much more experience. They’re excited for next year.”
VEX IQ Robotics, in its 11th year, is the largest and fastest growing middle and high school robotics program in the world with more than 16,000 teams from 50 countries playing. Each year a new engineering challenge is presented in the form of a game.
Students design and build robots to complete the tasks asked of them, entering competitions to see how well their robots stack up against others’. This year’s challenge involved building a robot that could drive around a 12-square foot field, stacking plastic cones on a variety of objects.
The Blaine County School District’s K-12 robotics program, known as BCB Bots, was the first of its kind in Idaho. It’s in its ninth year at the high school and its sixth year at the middle school. The elementary schools also field teams.