Celebrate robotics in Jay County

Letters to the Editor

To the editor:

It is a time to celebrate education in Jay County! Robotics education and competitions were started by Dean Kamen for the purpose of testing students in a real world application of what he called STEM.

STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. It also tests the students in team work, critical thinking, troubleshooting, programming, people skills, critical technical reading and strategy.

Mr. Kamen decided he needed to create something that made kids excel in thinking, something that truly showed how thrilling science and technology could be.

Mr. Kamen wanted there to be as much celebration for these kids as if they had won a state tournament in football, basketball, or even baseball. We might not get parade but these kids deserve some recognition for how far they got this year!

This past week Jay County Robotics competed in the VEX Worlds contest in Kissimmee, Fla. at the ESPN complex. Jay County Team A, made up of Caleb Hummel, Darren DeRome, Zech Landers, and Sean McKibben came in 12th place. Team B, made up of Austin Wendel, Tyler Wendel, Kaleb Baldwin, Preston Overholser, and Evan Mathias came in 42nd. And Team E, made up of Travis Steed, Garry Munday, and Emily Morris came in 82nd.

Team A is the first Jay County Team to make it to the semi-finals.

Let’s put this into perspective. There were 530 teams at worlds. The best of the best, they had to win a regional event in their state or country.

Out of almost 12,000 teams worldwide, Jay County qualified three teams! One of those teams came in 12th place! That is 12th place in the entire world. There were 18 countries represented at VEX worlds this year, Jay County teams finished in the top 1 percent of all of the teams in the world.

The Jay School Board and Dr. Tim Long have a policy that every kid should be able to participate in robotics. That is not true in most places.

Most schools only take their very best for their robotics team. They only let the best or the very top students be in robotics. We had 48 students in robotics. We had 547 hours of before school, after school, and weekends getting ready, with 3 Jay County teams beating the best of the best.

This celebration should start with the kids who put in these long hours. The second part should be shared by the teachers, administrators, and parents of these kids.

The Legislature just passed a law on Friday that teachers should be paid based on how well their students do on a test. Well here was our test.

I am not just talking about a small handful of teachers. I am talking about every science, technology, engineering, and math teacher these kids ever had. Each and every one of those teachers that have taught and inspired these kids to this point should celebrate in this accomplishment. Our kids scored in the top 1 percent of the world.

And we did it with every student that wanted to be a part of robotics. Not just the chosen.

The administration should also be in this celebration. Without the backing and forethought of the administration and the school board, there would not be a robotics program in Jay County.

What a great group of parents we had this year! Thank you for letting your kids be a part of such a young program. Robotics in Jay County has only been in existence for three years.

There were many long nights and weekends getting ready. Thank you for your help and understanding.

Austin Wendel, a freshman at JCHS, was selected to be one of the speakers at the opening day ceremonies. VEX wanted someone from Indiana, and they wanted someone from Jay County selected.

Austin did an excellent job of representing Jay County, Ind., his parents, his school and his teachers. It was estimated that there was approximately 8,000 in attendance.

It’s time to start building for next year. There are only 357 days till VEX Worlds in Anaheim.

Doug Tipton

Jay County Robotics