COSAM News Articles 2019 January Alabama Has Second Highest Growth in the Nation for VEX Robotics – The 2019 Southern Regional VEX Robotics Conference Provides Essential Training for Teachers

Alabama Has Second Highest Growth in the Nation for VEX Robotics – The 2019 Southern Regional VEX Robotics Conference Provides Essential Training for Teachers

Published: 01/15/2019

By: Maria Gebhardt

Alabama has the second highest growth in the nation and is in the running for the highest growth in the entire nation for VEX IQ robotics. Since last year, VEX teams have increased from 341 teams to 551 teams throughout the state. Much of this growth is due to Auburn University’s Mission 100 initiative to start 100 new elementary robotics teams in Alabama in 2018-2019.

Teachers, who take on many roles in addition to guiding their teams through complex challenges, joined almost 170 colleagues from all around Alabama and even as far as Tennessee to learn about building and programming VEX robots. Participants at 2019 Southern Regional VEX Robotics Conference hosted by the Southeastern Center of Robotics Education (SCORE) at Auburn University’s College of Sciences and Mathematics gained valuable training including hands-on experience customizing their robots. Teachers from Alabama were also able to earn professional development credits.

Sean Brooks from Houston County High School in Erin, Tennessee, drove six hours to participate in this year’s conference.

“I started a new team and want to learn the more skills to help my high school students excel in these competitions,” he explained.

Jennifer Jinnette and Shannon Millhouse from Brookwood Forest Elementary School in Mountain Brook, Alabama attended the event together.

“I want to find solutions to help my students as they face challenges in building robots,” shared Jinnette.

“This event is an opportunity for teachers to learn more about robotics and gain knowledge from experts,” said Millhouse. “As a math coach, I am excited to learn more about the programming to help my students continue to grow.”

Mary Boers is a parent from Collierville High School in Tennessee who attended this year’s conference.

“I am actively part of the local Booster Club and I made the long drive so that I could learn more about VEX robotics to help our students throughout these competitions,” she explained.

The 2019 Southern Regional VEX Robotics Conference was made possible with support through the Robotics Education & Competition (REC) Foundation, VEX Robotics, The Daniel Foundation, VisualEdge, and Learning Labs/Applied Technologies.

To learn more about SCORE, visit scoreau.org.