Wallace State Community College hosting VEX IQ Lion’s Pride Robotics Tournament on Jan. 29 and Feb. 5

HANCEVILLE, ALA. – Wallace State Community College is hosting a pair of upcoming VEX IQ Lion’s Pride Robotics Tournaments. The first is Saturday, Jan. 29 at Wallace State’s Wellness Center and another on Saturday, Feb. 5 at Traditions Bank Arena inside Tom Drake Coliseum. Doors open at 8 a.m. for each.

The VEX IQ Robotics Tournament, administered by the Wallace State Computer Science STEM Club, will feature elementary and middle school robotics students and teams.

Schools scheduled to participate in the Jan. 29 tournament include Alexandria Elementary School, Colbert Heights Elementary School, New Bethel Elementary School (Tuscumbia), Duck Springs Elementary School (Attalla), Echols Middle School (Northport), Hartselle Intermediate School, Robert F. Bumpus Middle School (Hoover), Harlan Elementary School (Florence), Underwood Elementary School (Florence), Kilby Laboratory School (Florence), Hibbett School (Florence), Forest Avenue Elementary School (Montgomery), Pleasant Valley Elementary School (Jacksonville) and Sipsey Valley Middle School (Buhl), among others.

Final matches are scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. and the awards ceremony at 4 p.m.

Winners during the Jan. 8 event were as follows:

Excellence Award – Middle School: Alexandria Middle School (Team name: RoboCubs)

Excellence Award – Elementary School: Alexandria Elementary School (Alexandria RoboCubs)

Teamwork – Champion Award: Etowah Middle School (Etowah Hawks)

Teamwork – Champion Award: North Alabama Cyber Institute (CyberCentral-VEXBOTx – Cullman)

Teamwork 2^nd place Award: Ivalee Elementary School (Los Tres Mosquiteros)

Teamwork 2^nd place Award: Oak Mountain Middle School (Oak Mountain Robotics)

Design Award: Bankhead Middle School (Dooms Day)

Robot Skills Competition: Etowah Middle School (Etowah Hawks)

The Robotics Education and Competition (REC) Foundation’s mission is to increase student interest and involvement in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), by engaging students in hands-on, affordable and sustainable robotics engineering programs.

VEX IQ is a snap-together robotics system designed to provide opportunities to students in elementary and early middle school. The VEX IQ competition allows students to build and program robots, encouraging teamwork, problem solving and leadership as teams construct and operate their robots.

In addition to the game competition, teams are judged on items like robot design, programming and engineering notebook as part as their overall scores.

For more information about Wallace State, visit www.wallacestate.edu