April 28, 2023 at 5:22 p.m.
Back to Dallas
Jay County Robotics has another junior high team heading to VEX IQ World Championships
Back to Dallas
By Bailey Cline-
Another year, another qualifying team.
A group of Jay County Robotics junior high students will be competing in the VEX IQ World Championship in Dallas next week.
Eighth graders Dawson Goldsworthy, Liam McBride, Rhoen Brown and Madi Paxson qualified for the competition with their performance in the Indiana VEX Robotics State Championship at Lucas Oil Stadium on March 25. They’ll be competing at the world championship Monday and Tuesday.
The team — it will also be accompanied by coach Kyle Love and high school team member Carly Shaneyfelt — will be flying to Dallas on Saturday. This is the second time Jay County Robotics has sent a team to the world competition, having qualified after Jake Kellogg, Callie Houck, Max Klopfenstein, Joe Boggs and Brennan Chrisman accomplished the feat last year. (In 2022, the group ranked 29th in robot skills scores, giving them an automatic entry into the world championship. Overall, they placed 54th at the state competition.)
“Free Candy,” the qualifying junior high team from Jay County, ranked 32nd in qualifiers and finished 18th in the finals. They placed 46th in the robot skills scores, giving them an automatic bid to the world championship.
Three other Jay County robotics teams also made it to the state competition but did not advance.
Indiana students this year faced off in the largest state competition in the United States, which featured teams from the elementary, junior or high school levels from all 92 counties.
“When we first started being successful (in the program), there were a 10th of the teams that there are now,” said Love. “To continue that with a lot more teams than there used to be is good competition.”
Jay County Robotics’ junior high team will be joining competitors Monday representing 13 countries and 787 teams from around the world. There are 78 teams in their specific division.
The VEX Robotics challenge for 2022-23 required students to design a robot that could gather discs from dispensers on the field and shoot them across a barrier. Depending on how many discs are removed from dispensers and where the discs land, the team scores different point values.
For extra points, the team’s robot can also extend a mechanism and touch either side of the field at the end of each round of shots.
Goldsworthy explained this year’s game is more challenging compared to the 2021 to 2022 challenges, which required robots to launch balls into the field.
“Last year, you could kind of get out. If there’s a problem with your robot, if something happens this year, you’re kind of (stuck) for the rest of your match,” he said.
As always, teamwork is a large factor in the game. Drivers exchange roles halfway through the match. Programming also comes into play, with students having to develop a mechanism that could collect the discs, move around the field and launch the discs and extend a portion of itself for a contact bonus.
Love noted the abundance of elementary programs offered in other areas, and he expressed hope to launch one in Jay County in the future.
“That’s been our Achilles’ heel, getting somebody to do the elementary program,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of opportunities for (students) here that most schools don’t have. We host a lot of events locally, we’ve got a lot of knowledge in the county that can help them do well. Now we just need somebody to take the bull by the horns and start it.”
He referenced the Vex IU Robotics summer camp he hosts at John Jay Center for Learning each year, which still has a few spots open. (It’s slated for the weeks of June 12 through June 16 and June 19 through June 23.) He said he sees a high transfer of students from the summer camp into Jay County’s robotics programs.
As for the team attending the world championship, Love is excited for them to get a chance to visit another state and meet students from around the world.
“Seeing a couple of the kids that have not flown or really traveled far, getting them out and getting some life experience outside of the four sides of Jay County is a good thing,” he said. “Dallas is a culture shock. So it’s good to get them out and see more of the country.”
A group of Jay County Robotics junior high students will be competing in the VEX IQ World Championship in Dallas next week.
Eighth graders Dawson Goldsworthy, Liam McBride, Rhoen Brown and Madi Paxson qualified for the competition with their performance in the Indiana VEX Robotics State Championship at Lucas Oil Stadium on March 25. They’ll be competing at the world championship Monday and Tuesday.
The team — it will also be accompanied by coach Kyle Love and high school team member Carly Shaneyfelt — will be flying to Dallas on Saturday. This is the second time Jay County Robotics has sent a team to the world competition, having qualified after Jake Kellogg, Callie Houck, Max Klopfenstein, Joe Boggs and Brennan Chrisman accomplished the feat last year. (In 2022, the group ranked 29th in robot skills scores, giving them an automatic entry into the world championship. Overall, they placed 54th at the state competition.)
“Free Candy,” the qualifying junior high team from Jay County, ranked 32nd in qualifiers and finished 18th in the finals. They placed 46th in the robot skills scores, giving them an automatic bid to the world championship.
Three other Jay County robotics teams also made it to the state competition but did not advance.
Indiana students this year faced off in the largest state competition in the United States, which featured teams from the elementary, junior or high school levels from all 92 counties.
“When we first started being successful (in the program), there were a 10th of the teams that there are now,” said Love. “To continue that with a lot more teams than there used to be is good competition.”
Jay County Robotics’ junior high team will be joining competitors Monday representing 13 countries and 787 teams from around the world. There are 78 teams in their specific division.
The VEX Robotics challenge for 2022-23 required students to design a robot that could gather discs from dispensers on the field and shoot them across a barrier. Depending on how many discs are removed from dispensers and where the discs land, the team scores different point values.
For extra points, the team’s robot can also extend a mechanism and touch either side of the field at the end of each round of shots.
Goldsworthy explained this year’s game is more challenging compared to the 2021 to 2022 challenges, which required robots to launch balls into the field.
“Last year, you could kind of get out. If there’s a problem with your robot, if something happens this year, you’re kind of (stuck) for the rest of your match,” he said.
As always, teamwork is a large factor in the game. Drivers exchange roles halfway through the match. Programming also comes into play, with students having to develop a mechanism that could collect the discs, move around the field and launch the discs and extend a portion of itself for a contact bonus.
Love noted the abundance of elementary programs offered in other areas, and he expressed hope to launch one in Jay County in the future.
“That’s been our Achilles’ heel, getting somebody to do the elementary program,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of opportunities for (students) here that most schools don’t have. We host a lot of events locally, we’ve got a lot of knowledge in the county that can help them do well. Now we just need somebody to take the bull by the horns and start it.”
He referenced the Vex IU Robotics summer camp he hosts at John Jay Center for Learning each year, which still has a few spots open. (It’s slated for the weeks of June 12 through June 16 and June 19 through June 23.) He said he sees a high transfer of students from the summer camp into Jay County’s robotics programs.
As for the team attending the world championship, Love is excited for them to get a chance to visit another state and meet students from around the world.
“Seeing a couple of the kids that have not flown or really traveled far, getting them out and getting some life experience outside of the four sides of Jay County is a good thing,” he said. “Dallas is a culture shock. So it’s good to get them out and see more of the country.”
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