St. Mary’s robotics team shines at international competition
The robotics team from St. Mary’s in Alexandria traveled to Dallas last month to compete in the International Robots Education & Competition’s world robotics championship.
It’s the largest robotics tournament in the world, according to team advisor Tom Rowe. More than 1,500 teams representing 57 countries were there for the competition.
“It was a great experience for the kids,” Rowe explained. “They had fun competing,” he said, both against – and with – students from other countries.
The St. Mary’s team secured its appearance by winning both a state championship and a special excellence award at a March competition in Shelbyville, Kentucky. Two teams from St. Mary’s placed first and second, which enabled them to participate together at the national competition in Texas.
At the state competition, St. Mary’s 8th-grade team qualified 27th in their division, Rowe said, going 7-3 against the competition.
“It was a real learning experience for both teams (to see) new ideas, strategies, and learning to communicate with other teams,” Rowe said. “It will definitely help our kids compete at a much higher level in the future.”
The robotics team was created, Rowe said, to give students who might not be invested in athletics an alternative activity. The program began in 2013 with just four students, and has grown substantially since then.
“We start out with fifth-grade students,” Rowe said, adding that many of them continue participation through the eighth grade. About 25-30 students take part in the club each year, he reported.
Rowe had previously noted his pride in team members’ ability to apply knowledge in building and programming a robot – from concept to completion – at the state-level competition. “The two teams worked exceptionally well together,” he said, which was a key to their success.
“Our two St. Mary teams devised a strategy and went on to win the state championship,” Rowe said, “as a 1st-seeded alliance. As a coach I was proud that our 8th grade team selected our 7th grade team, since they had other … options available to them. I was also proud that, together, they devised a strategy to win the state championship.”
That natural teamwork, coupled with a commitment to recognizing peer abilities, gave the team a competitive advantage in Texas.
This marks the second year in a row the team has won its state championship, making them the first St. Mary’s team to win back-to-back state championships, Rowe said.
Additionally, new connections and friendships made at the event will enable students to better consider the value of working across cultural boundaries. In one of the matches that took place in Texas, for example, Rowe stated that St. Mary’s team members found themselves assigned to work with another team, from China — and had to coordinate a joint problem-solving strategy with the assistance of an interpreter.
It was, Rowe said, “a new challenge for the kids.”
Fortunately, the St. Mary’s students (and their newfound teammates from across the globe) came out victorious.
After winning that particular match, Rowe proudly shared, the multinational students were jubilantly high-fiving each other and taking selfies to share with their friends back home.
“It’s experiences like those,” the robotics team advisor said, “that make the competition special.”
