Ridge Elementary Robotics Team Represents MD
The Ridge Elementary School Robotics Team — RES for short — has made an amazing showing in this year’s worldwide Robotics Competitive season. Their performance drew a school visit early in May from Delegate Deb Rey who presented the 10 team members with Certificates of Achievement.
Delegate Rey presented each member of the Ridge Elementary Robotics team with a certificate and a Maryland Delegation pin. During her remarks she said how proud Maryland was for them to provide such a positive representation of the state at the Worlds robotics tournament.
This is the Ridge Elementary Robotics team’s first year and they whizzed through regional, state and then world competitions. VEX Worlds draws top robotics teams from around the world. Only the top 88 of 2,000 registered teams were invited to Worlds.
To secure an opportunity to compete at VEX Worlds, the Ridge Elementary Robotics won their first competition at the Southern Maryland Regional tournament held in January at Great Mills High School, Great Mills, MD. At the regional level the first-year team took 1st place in programming and robot skills as well as securing the Elementary School Excellence Award, the highest, overall award given.
Their regional win secured the Ridge Elementary School Robotics Team a spot in the state competition held in February in Baltimore, MD. At state, RES demonstrated programming skills that achieved a 3rd place overall ranking. This ranking snagged the team an invitation to Worlds.
During the Worlds April 15 -18, 2015 competition in Louisville, KY, RES Robotics came in 47th overall. The team took 35th in programming and 57th in robot skills.
At the ceremony following their successful efforts at Worlds, team sponsors were thanked: Bonnie Green, Executive Director of The Patuxent Partnership, and Scott Stewart, Northrop Grumman Corporate Lead Executive for the Naval Air Systems Command.
Ms. Green and Mr. Stewart were recognized for their support to the robotics program and their organizations’ educational outreach throughout the Southern Maryland community. The Patuxent Partnership donated equipment for the pilot robotics program at Ridge Elementary School. NGC donated $750 for additional equipment so the school could field three teams for the 2015-2016 competition season.
The students showed their appreciation for the commitment NGC shows to STEM initiatives, giving Mr. Stewart a bunch of “low-fives” as he walked through the rows of students seated in auditorium for the ceremony.
“This year has been a wonderful learning experience for our school,” said Sandra Kerner, principal of Ridge Elementary School. “The team’s journey from initial introduction to an unknown endeavor to competing at the Worlds competition has been amazing. Seeing the students working so closely together on all of the components of the Robotics program was truly heartwarming. They put their individually amazing skills together and became an incredibly cohesive team. The entire school has benefited from this experience as team members carried insights, information, and teamwork into their classrooms. It is evident that the entire culture of the school has been enhanced and will continue to be enhanced as the Robotics program continues and expands.”
