ROBOTICS

OLPH Vex IQ Middle School Team 19370

Our Lady of Perpetual Help School currently offers a Middle School Robotics Competitive Team that utilizes the VEX IQ platform. The team is open to any middle school student that is in good academic standing. Practices are typically every Wednesday and Friday every week throughout the school year, as well as other days as needed. The overall team is broken into four smaller groups that design, build and program robots based on the current robotics season's requirements. Each team is made up of 4-7 students. The teams typically travel for Saturday tournaments in Tennessee and Georgia on average once per month. The goal each of season is to earn an invitation to the Tennessee State Tournament in February/March and quality for the World Tournament typically held in May.

What is VEX Robotics? The VEX Robotics Competition, presented by the Robotics Education & Competition Foundation, is the ultimate STEM activity for elementary, middle school, and high school students (ages 9-18). Each year an engineering challenge is presented in the form of a game. Students, with guidance from their teachers and mentors, use the VEX Robotics Design System to build innovative robots designed to score the most points possible in qualification matches, elimination matches, and skills challenges. In addition to having a great time and building amazing robots, students learn many academic and life skills through their participation in the VEX Robotics Competition and their work within their team.  The program is an all-inclusive program that allows all students the opportunity to participate. We are very proud of our program’s diversity, which allows any student with a desire to be involved in robotics the opportunity to learn, contribute, and compete at a high level.

The OLPH Team is coached by parent volunteer Don Jacobson. He was awarded the 21/22 Vex Middle School Teacher of the Year in Tennessee. In the program's first year, they won a combined 6 trophies, qualified all three teams for the Tennessee State Tournament, and sent three teams to the World Championships. In 2022/2023 OLPH grew their robotics program by adding a competition Elementary team. The teams won a combined 11 trophies and qualified all four teams for the TN State Robotics Tournament. Two of our middle school teams then went on to earn invitations to the World Championship of Robotics.