Students from the American School for the Deaf in West Hartford have earned spots in world championship competitions coming up this spring.

VEX Robotics Tournament. Courtesy of ASD

Submitted

The American School for the Deaf (ASD) is excited to announce that its students will be competing in the VEX Robotics World Championship presented by the Robotics Education & Competition (REC) Foundation. Last month, middle and high school teams travelled to Alabama School for the Deaf (AIDB) and earned their spots to compete in the World Championship this spring in Texas.

On Feb. 16, ASD high school students competed at Alabama School for the Deaf in the VEX VRC Robotics Tournament, which was a collaboration with the National Technical Institute for the Deaf Regional STEM Center (NRSC). One team of four students from ASD participated and ranked 11th out of 35 teams. The first-seeded team, Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf (MSAD), formed an alliance with ASD to compete in the finals. After winning the quarterfinals and semifinals, they swept the tournament by winning the first and second matches in the best of three finals. ASD’s High School Tech Tigers also earned the Design Award which demonstrates their excellence in maintaining an effective and efficient Engineering Design Notebook. Both ASD and MSAD will advance to the Worlds competition April 25-27, 2023 in Dallas, TX.

The following week, six ASD middle school students participated in the VEX IQ Robotics Tournament. Two teams of three students competed – ASD Tech Tigers and Brookies. The Tech Tigers team won 1st place in the Skills matches (Driver Controlled and Autonomous Programming) and finished in the top three teams overall. Brookies tied for first place overall, but lost by 6 points in the tiebreaker match. However, they will advance to Worlds for earning the prestigious Excellence Award. Criteria for this award included receiving top rankings in all categories, exceptional interviews with the judges, effective and efficient robot design process in their Engineering Design Notebook, and good sportsmanship. The middle school Worlds competition will take place April 30-May 2, 2023 in Dallas, TX.

The students immensely enjoyed their experience in Alabama where favorite activities included making new friends, socializing, competing with the other teams, and collaboration. One member of middle school team Brookies loved the comradery and support they received, as well as offering support to others. She also said computer coding for the autonomous skills match was her favorite part about robotics and sees herself having a career in STEM one day. When asked what else they might like to share, one student’s response was “Join ASD!”

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