More than 60 elementary students from across Martin County, Minn., teamed up for an energetic robotics competition at MCW Elementary School in Trimont the morning of Saturday, April 13th.
This Martin County KnowHow! VEX IQ Robotics Competition saw 3rd & 4th graders from the Truman, Fairmont, Martin County West, and Granada-Huntley-East Chain school districts — 61 students across 25 teams — working together to face a friendly collaborative challenge. These students spent several weeks building and learning how to operate their VEX IQ robots, and were excited to put their hard work to the test.
The competition required students to navigate their robots around the game field, working collaboratively to score points by placing blocks in goals, clearing the supply zone, and parking their robots. These robots are created from a kit of pre-approved parts. Students followed a set of instructions to build a base robot and then were free to create their own designs to better play the game.
The podium finishers after 2 hours of competition were:
The Timberwolves + The Enchanted Dragon Masters
IDKs + Outdoor Explorers
VEX Foxes + Enchanted Mustangs
Photo highlights
The teams
The 25 teams at the event were:
The Timberwolves (FMT) Nolan Harris & Kolton Blazejak
Bob the Robot (FMT) Sloane Meier & Carter Rowan
The Villagers (FMT) Garrett Meier & Cooper Allen
Rockin’ Robot (FMT) Adalie Grupe & Luther Steinkamp
The Science Teacher (GHEC) Otto Anderson & Brian Embacher
The Nerdz (GHEC) RJ Briseno, Liam Seifert & Bentlee Stanford
Triple Threat 5051 (GHEC) Bentley Roorda, Cooper Nowicki & David Gonzalez
Ohio Turtles (GHEC) Kael Reynolds, Chase Bellecourt & Autumn Laschinski
4 Year Olds (GHEC) Chloe Goodrich, Ari Dollen & Macy Philipp
Ellie (TRU) Hayden Krueger & Ava Villalon
Gucci Slides Jr. (TRU) Liam Werner, Eddie Schuder & Jude Dague
Kitcats (TRU) Kiley Deuel, Addy Urban & Natalie Pahl
Block Lifters (TRU) Kael Krahmer & Liam Schofield
The Wolves (TRU) Xoe Villalon & Zage Clark
Enchanted Mustangs (MCW) Lynnie McInerney & Madilynn Knake
VEX Foxes (MCW) Camden Dietzman, Gracin Hansen & Ethan Drager
Turbo Wheelers (MCW) Max Dorschner & Nolan Kamlitz
Outdoor Explorers (MCW) Kyle Coulter & Titus Krusemark
IDKs (MCW) Elliot Monreal, Lincoln Cepress & Isaac Howard
MCW DJs (MCW) Jacob Trontvet, Dawson Paplow & James Kolbe
The Mavericks (MCW) Andrew Firchau & Austin Taylor
The Spicers (MCW) Ryder Holtz & Oliver Larson
The Rotting Apples (MCW) Carson Glidden, Jayse Schultz & Franklin Ask
Farm Girls (MCW) Mejta Rohman, Giada Brolsma & Aubrey Larson
The Enchanted Dragon Masters (MCW) Kenzie Schmidtke & Sage Gwin
Our thanks
Thank you to all of the students who participated, their fans who came to cheer them on, the Martin County West school district for hosting us, and all of our adult & youth volunteers who helped put on this event, including members of the Fairmont High School and MCW High School robotics teams! You’re all important parts of this fun application of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics in our community.
Special thanks to our founding supporters Project 1590, Martin County Area Foundation and Kahler Automation, and additional supporters Martin County Youth Foundation, Bank Midwest, and Bolton & Menk.