NW-SCC hosted a drive-in movie to kick off the 2020 BEST Robotics season

MUSCLE SHOALS– Northwest-Shoals Community College (NW-SCC) hosted students and parents from 14 area schools for a drive-in movie event to kick off the 2020 Northwest Alabama BEST (Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology) Robotics season on the Shoals campus Saturday night (9/26).

The BEST Robotics season kicked-off Saturday night (9/26) by unveiling the theme for this year’s competition, Outbreak 2020, Adjusting to the threat. This year’s competition will be held in a classroom format where students compete virtually. Due to the pandemic, Outbreak Classroom has been instituted by the national BEST Robotics organization to tackle the needs of the students through live streaming. As the situation with the COVID-19 virus changes, the classroom program allows teams to work locally together in group sizes and locations that they determine. However, students will still design, build, test, and compete with their robots.

According to Kim Sheppard, Co-Hub Director for NW Alabama BEST Robotics, over 100 students and parents attended Saturday night’s kickoff event. “The drive-in movie kickoff event was a huge success,” said Sheppard. “We had teams from Franklin, Colbert, Marion, Lauderdale, Limestone, and Madison counties in Alabama and one school from Lincoln County, Tennessee.”

Northwest Alabama BEST Robotics teams picked up their robotics kits for competition. Kits included video equipment to aid each team in live-streaming from their respective schools. Wi-Fi hotspots will be available through NW-SCC to competing schools during competition week, November 16- 20, 2020.

BEST Robotics Game Day, which is traditionally held in the NW-SCC Shoals campus gym, will be held at individual schools on Friday, November 20, 2020. The event will be live-streamed to judges. On Saturday, November 21, 2020, Northwest Alabama BEST Robotics plans to live stream highlights from all competitions and announce the Northwest Alabama BEST Robotics awards.

Northwest Alabama BEST Robotics is a workforce development partnership between the Shoals Chamber of Commerce and Northwest-Shoals Community College. Each fall, over 850 middle and high schools and over 18,000 students participate in the competition nationwide. For more information visit https://www.nwalbest.com.