The team recently secured first place at the VEX Robotics Competition in Syracuse. These students competed against 67 teams from Northern New York State and will be advancing to the VEX Robotic’s World Championship in Dallas, Texas on April 27. This win is a significant achievement for the team who have been working hard for months to build and design their robot to efficiently solve challenges in a game. The team is comprised of Liem Donahue, Alex Afify, and Jacob Ruefflee, all 13 years old. 

Each week the students applied what they learned about STEM in the classroom to build these semi-autonomous machines. Team Advisor, Bruce Salisbury said the team competed in five tournaments leading up to the Syracuse competition. "I am proud of these students for their accomplishments as a middle school team that competed against high school teams," Salisbury said. 

Team captain Liem Donahue said he was proud of his peer's perseverance and accomplishments. "Our main goal was to work as a team in both offense and defense," he said. 

The VEX Robotics Competition is managed by the Robotics Education & Competition Foundation, with thousands of schools participating worldwide each year.