Washington Catholic Robotics’ Club Members Bring Ideas to Fruition at World Championship

Working together as a team towards a specific goal is an important skill the students in the Washington Catholic Robotics’ Club learn from their participation. Thanks to their teamwork and innovation, the club qualified and competed at the 2023 VEX Robotics World Championship, in the Elementary School Event

“There were 800 elementary teams at World,” says Sandy Davis, the team’s advisor. “Students came from all over the world to compete. They were divided into ten divisions and competed with their alliance to crown a champion. Our team was in the Innovative Division.”

To qualify for the international competition, the students competed first at the state tournament here in Indiana. Competing against 133 other groups, the team formed alliances with other teams to get into the final. The top 24 alliances competed in the finals, all of whom were invited to the World Championship.

“We ranked 20th out of 133 teams at state,” Mrs. Davis says. “Indiana has the biggest state tournament in the United States.”

While the Washington Catholic Robotics Club includes 30 students across elementary, middle school, and high school, the students representing the club in the World Championship were Oliver Armstrong, Hank Haag, Kinsey Kelso, and Adrian Newton.

Oliver was in charge of the programming. He says he most enjoyed “meeting different people at the competition and forming allies with other teams.”

Adrian and Hank built and designed the robot. Adrian’s favorite part was “building the robot and coming up with a design.” Hank says they “have learned to work as a team supporting each other’s ideas.”

And Kinsey acted as manager, saying that “there is no ‘I’ in team. We have to work together to improve the robot.”

The Washington Catholic Robotics Club received a startup grant from VEX Robotics and a grant from Daviess County Community Foundation when Mrs. Davis began the club several years ago. It started with elementary and middle school teams but has now opened up to high schoolers as well.

The club is important to Mrs. Davis because it teaches students important life skills and lessons.

“It is a club where you can build a robot from scratch using VEX products, program the robot through an autonomous program, and compete at competitions based on a game that changes every year,” Mrs. Davis says. “At the competition, teams form alliances with other teams so communication is a key to success. This club builds on STEM. Students who enjoy building, programming, and being part of a team can apply to be on the team and then have a tryout.”

Looking ahead to the future, Mrs. Davis hopes to add more teams and upgrade the technology for the clubs. She remains grateful to the parish community and local businesses who have supported the program over the last seven years and is very proud of all the students involved.

“It is not just about winning a competition,” she says. “It is about what the students take away from the competition, and that they continue to learn and grow in the STEM fields.”

(From left) Adrian Newton, Kinsey Kelso, Hank Haag and Oliver Armstrong with trophy and robot

(From left) Adrian Newton, Kinsey Kelso, Hank Haag and Oliver Armstrong in front of the VEX sign

(From left) Hank Haag and Oliver Armstrong at the Indianapolis State Championship

(From left) Oliver Armstrong, Adrian Newton, Kinsey Kelso and Hank Haag in front of Innovate Division

(From left) Oliver Armstrong, Hank Haag, Kinsey Kelso and Adrian Newton at VEX Robotics World Championship