Ella Brandon (left) and Anna Clark (right), both fifth graders at CSLA, drive their robot in competition as Coach Scott Rosenow watches their progress. Ms. Brandon and Ms. Clark are part of the all-girl team that took the Tennessee elementary driving skills title.
Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts has qualified two teams to compete in the REC VEX World Championship in April.
The school competed with over 100 teams in the Tennessee REC VEX championship in Brentwood, Tn. The two CSLA teams will compete with others from across the country and internationally at the world finals competition in Louisville, Ky. in April.
Not only did two teams from Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts qualify for World competition, but Scott Rosenow, CSLA teacher and REC VEX robotics coach, was named outstanding teacher of the year. Also, one of the teams from CSLA received the highest driving skills score for an elementary team in the state of Tennessee in the national qualifying competition.
"VEX robotics in the classroom," officials said, "is designed for students to explore the fundamentals of robotics and the engineering design process. The program leverages the 'coolness' of robotics in the eyes of kids and the excitement of head-to-head competition to inspire exploration of robotics and engineering. As students work through the process of engineering a project, building a robot, and programming it to compete in a competition game, they gain a better understanding of the relevance of classroom instruction."
The Robotics Education and Competition Foundation organizes the VEX Robotics Competition. Teams of students design and build a robot to compete against other teams in a game-based engineering challenge. Classroom STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) concepts are put to the test as students learn lifelong skills in teamwork, leadership and communication, building and competing with their robots. Tournaments are held year-round at regional, state and national levels.