submitted by Nichole Smith
The Montverde Academy robotics team has made it to the quarterfinals! On January 10, robotics students Johnny Drawdy (grade 11), Titus DeClerq (grade 11), and Ben Chiang (grade 10) competed in the Knights Challenge VEX Robotics Competition at East Ridge High School. Johnny Drawdy placed fifth in overall driver skills, and the team walked away with the Amaze Award.
The Amaze Award recognizes a consistently high-performing and competitive robot. Key criteria of the Amaze Award are:
- Robot reliability contributes to high-scoring matches with their alliance partners.
- Robot performs at a high level in Driving Skills and Autonomous Coding Skills at the event.
- Programming is effective at solving the game challenges for both Qualification Matches and Skills Challenge matches.
- Students understand and explain how they worked together to develop their robot design to consistently execute an effective game strategy.
- Team Interview demonstrates effective communication skills, teamwork, professionalism, and a student-centered ethos.
- The Engineering Notebook is consistent with the qualities demonstrated in the team interview and robot design.
“Quite a few Montverde Academy students, including 11th graders Nathan Diaz and Richie Cerione, stepped up Friday night to help East Ridge set up fields and get everything together so the competition could happen,” said Ms. Chris Burrell, the Upper School robotics coach. “I was proud of our Eagles.”