Sixth graders win trophies in robotics competition
Thirteen Goessel sixth graders attended the 5th Annual Lego Mindstorms Robotics Competition on Feb. 28 at Wichita State University. The theme of the competition was "Superheros," and it was designed to challenge 5th through 8th graders in the areas of science, math, computers, and engineering. The event was sponsored by the Colleges of Education and the Colleges of Engineering.
Eight teams competed on the professional level and 16 teams vied for supremacy on the apprentice level. There were five different missions to accomplish: Batman, Wonderwoman, Psychic Rescue, Spiderman, and Hulk.
Teams had four weeks to prepare for the one-day event which involved creating an oral report, building robotics from Legos, connecting them to the RCX, and programming the computer. The program was then beamed to the RCX with infrared light and hopefully everything worked as anticipated. The students were also judged on teamwork and sportsmanship.
Goessel's team, consisting of Neal Brubaker, Laird Goertzen, Corey Buller, Kent Duerksen, Jake Smucker, Holly Spoonemore, Kaleb Dailey, Johnathan Berkholz, Tavia Hoheisel, Michelle Unruh, Raney Schroeder, Shanna Klassen, and Adam Meysing, took 3rd place overall and 1st place on table and notebook display. They also brought home two judge's choice awards; one in Wonderwoman and the other in Psychic Rescue.
Their coaches were Karl Brubaker, Ilona Abrahams, Jackie Jordan, and John Fast.
At the end of the day, with four trophies to their credit, the Robotic Mindstormers from Goessel tested their skills in eating pizza by feasting at Pizza Hut.
