Lorain middle schoolers excel in 9th annual Lorain Titans VEX Robotics Qualifier

Students from across northern Ohio descended upon Lorain High School on Saturday to compete by designing, building and programming robots to face off in a series of challenges. It was the 9th annual Lorain Titans VEX Robotics Qualifier, a tournament hosted by the Lorain Titans Robotics program which serves as an opportunity for teams to qualify for the state tournament. A high school tournament and middle school tournament were held simultaneously, as teams competed to win not just the tournament itself but a variety of other awards, several of which carried state qualification with them. A total 59 teams from 12 school districts, including Lorain, participated, with 42 high school teams and 17 middle school teams. "The tournament is a great place for the kids to shine in front of their parents," Lorain Robotics coach Denise Fahrney said. "What is so great about it is that it's a local tournament, it brings it to Lorain and showcases our wonderful building, Lorain Schools and our (robotics) program and what we have to offer. Organizer Deborah Hansen, who has organized the tournament since its inception, said it is a critical opportunity for students to show what they have learned about robotics, but also to gain experience crucial for working in the real world. "I have deep admiration for this tournament in the sense that it provides the students with the best opportunity to receive soft skills and life skills that they will use for their lives," Hansen said. "They have to interview in front of a large group of people, they have to compete with teammates that are from another school district on the fly, and two matches later they might be their opponent." Students do not arrive at the tournament with completed robots, but instead design, build and program them to tackle the specific challenges laid out by the organizers. The robot kits are from the company VEX Robotics, which also runs the official robotics season that local teams participate in. Saturday's event was based on VEX's "Push Back" challenge, which tasks teams with picking up blocks and maneuvering them into plastic tubes using both pre-programmed autonomous settings and drivers at different points. After the events themselves, students turn in their engineering notes and are interviewed by the event's judges, who then assign a number of awards. Students compete not only with teams from their own schools, but are also assigned teammates from other districts, forcing them to get to know each other and learn to work together. Each age group, high school and middle school, had not just a tournament winner but also a number of specific awards given out by the judges. In each case, the Excellence Award was the top prize given out by the judges In the middle school tournament, "The Minions," from Brookside Middle School not only won the tournament itself, but also took home the Excellence Award. At the high school level, the Excellence Award went to team "Apex," from Brecksville-Broadview Heights Schools. Lorain middle school teams took home four of the seven awards for their bracket. In addition to Lorain, the districts that sent teams to the tournament on Saturday included: Vermilion, Akron STEM, Jefferson Area, Akron East Community Learning Center, Margaretta, Bay Village, Canfield Mahoning Career and Technical Center, Brookside, Norwalk, West Salem Northwestern and Brecksville-Broadview Heights. Contact Owen MacMillan at (440) 329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet.com.