MUSCLE SHOALS– New Bethel Elementary School’s robot-bearing students from EagleBots VEX IQ Challenge team #1915A, secured the Excellence Award at the NW Alabama SCORE VEX IQ Challenge at Northwest-Shoals Community College in Muscle Shoals, AL this past weekend. The Shoals Chamber of Commerce partnered with the college and Auburn University’s Southeastern Center of Robotics Education to coordinate the event.
The students collaborated with 19 teams from Florence, Tuscumbia, Killen, Tuscumbia, Red Bay, 
Sheffield, Vina & Winfield. The action-packed day engaged elementary and middle school students in the 2018-2019 VEX IQ Challenge Next Level. In this game, students are challenged to design, build, and program their robots to attain the highest score by scoring and stacking colored hubs in building zones, removing bonus hubs from the hanging structure, and by parking or hanging on the hanging bar. Several of the winning teams now advance to the State / Regional Championship at Auburn University on March 2 & 3, where they will attempt to qualify for the chance to showcase their skills at the VEX Robotics World Championship, the culminating event of the season that draws the best teams from across the country in an effort to be crowned World Champions.
In the VEX IQ Challenge, students, with guidance from their teachers and mentors, build a robot using simple, snap-togetherVEX IQ parts to solve an engineering challenge that is presented each year in the form of a game. Teams work together to score points in Teamwork Matches and get to show off their skills individually in driver-controlled and programming Robot Skills Challenges.
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.
Teams who participated in Saturday’s tournament include:
| Schools & Teams | City |
| Central School , teams Central Intelligence 1 & 2 | Florence |
| Colbert Heights Elementary School, teams BionicBEAST 1 & 2 | Tuscumbia |
| Creekside Academy, teams Creekside microBots 1 & 2 | Florence |
| Legacy Christian Academy, teams Knightbots 1 & 2 | Killen |
| New Bethel Elementary School, EagleBots | Tuscumbia |
| Red Bay High School, Tiger Bots | Red Bay |
| Riverhill School, teams Riverhill Bearbots 1 & 2 | Florence |
| Sheffield City Schools, teams LEW 1, 2 & 3 | Sheffield |
| Sheffield Junior High team | Sheffield |
| Vina High School, teams Devil-bots 1 & 2 | Vina |
| Winfield Middle School, Wolves | Winfield |
While the EagleBots won the event overall, several other teams received esteemed awards. Award-winners included:
| Award | Team # | Team Name | Affiliation | Location |
| Excellence Award
(VIQC) |
1915A | EagleBots | New Bethel Elementary School | Tuscumbia |
| Teamwork Champion Award
(VIQC) |
35594F | Wolves | Winfield Middle School | Winfield |
| Teamwork Champion Award
(VIQC) |
15866A | BionicBEAST | Colbert Heights Elementary School | Tuscumbia |
| Robot Skills Champion Award
(VIQC) |
35594F | Wolves | Winfield Middle School | Winfield |
| Design Award
(VIQC) |
89198B | Creekside microBots | Creekside Academy | Florence |
| Judges Award
(VIQC) |
15866A | BionicBEAST | Colbert Heights Elementary School | Tuscumbia |
“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.”
“This event would not have been possible without our sponsors, partners and volunteers, including Auburn’s SCORE, REC Foundation, TN Valley Robotics Foundation, TVA, BVI, Toyota Alabama, Flexco, SSWA Recycling, Walmart (Hough Rd. Florence), ATN, Civitan, Allstate – Teresa Rogers, Tri-Cities Manufacturing, Shoals Manufacturing Association and Southwire. We appreciate all the support for our students … our future workforce!” said Stephanie Newland, vice president of workforce readiness for the Shoals Chamber of Commerce.
The REC Foundation manages the VEX IQ Challenge that many schools participate in around the world. VEX Competitions make up the world’s largest and fastest growing competitive robotics programs for elementary schools, middle schools, high schools and colleges around the world, expanding to include more than 20,000 teams from 45 countries that participate in more than 1,500 VEX Robotics events worldwide.
More information about the VEX Robotics Competition is available at RoboticsEducation.org, RobotEvents.com, andVEXRobotics.com.
About the REC 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. Its goal is to provide these programs with services, solutions, and a community that allows them to flourish in a way that fosters the technical and interpersonal skills necessary for students to succeed in the 21st Century. The REC Foundation develops partnerships with K-12 education, higher education, government, industry, and the non-profit community to achieve this work so that one day these programs will become accessible to all students and all schools in all communities. For more information on REC Foundation, visitwww.RoboticsEducation.org
Media Release/Stephanie Newland/Shoals Chamber
