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Ereckson Robotics ready to take off
By Rasna Baweja, Special to the Allen American
The CoCo BEST robotics competition is back and the Ereckson Middle School Robotics team is ready to get started. The kickoff for the 2012 Collin County Boosting, Engineering, Science and Technology (CoCo BEST) competition took place on Sept. 8 at Curtis Middle School.
The BEST robotics competition involves building a working robot to complete a certain task. This year's theme is WARP XX! The concept of the playing field this year is space elevators and getting objects from Earth to Midway Station.
BEST was founded by two Texas Instruments engineers in 1993. The first BEST robotics competition had 14 schools and 221 students. This year there are 28 teams competing in the CoCo BEST competition.
The Ereckson Middle School Robotics team is under the leadership of 7th-grade science teacher, Graham Gadd.
"Robotics is about life-long skills and I want to help prepare my students for the future," said Mr. Gadd.
Two former students are also involved in helping coach the team on a volunteer basis. They are Kelvin Moore and Zach Hines.
"I want to give back what I've learned and inspire the students," said Moore, who is an engineer.
This year, the Ereckson Robotics team consists of around 30 students with a variety of skills ranging from graphic arts and engineering, to public speaking and presentation skills. "There is always a place for everyone in robotics," said this year's student leader, Sarah Rodenbusch.
Two years ago, Ereckson's Robotics team was the only middle school team to compete at the national BEST competition in Orlando, Fla. The Ereckson team received awards for the display category and t-shirt design.
For more information about BEST robotics, visit www.bestinc.org.
Rasna Baweja is a 7th-grade media team member of the Ereckson Middle School Robotics Team.
The BEST robotics competition involves building a working robot to complete a certain task. This year's theme is WARP XX! The concept of the playing field this year is space elevators and getting objects from Earth to Midway Station.
BEST was founded by two Texas Instruments engineers in 1993. The first BEST robotics competition had 14 schools and 221 students. This year there are 28 teams competing in the CoCo BEST competition.
The Ereckson Middle School Robotics team is under the leadership of 7th-grade science teacher, Graham Gadd.
"Robotics is about life-long skills and I want to help prepare my students for the future," said Mr. Gadd.
Two former students are also involved in helping coach the team on a volunteer basis. They are Kelvin Moore and Zach Hines.
"I want to give back what I've learned and inspire the students," said Moore, who is an engineer.
This year, the Ereckson Robotics team consists of around 30 students with a variety of skills ranging from graphic arts and engineering, to public speaking and presentation skills. "There is always a place for everyone in robotics," said this year's student leader, Sarah Rodenbusch.
Two years ago, Ereckson's Robotics team was the only middle school team to compete at the national BEST competition in Orlando, Fla. The Ereckson team received awards for the display category and t-shirt design.
For more information about BEST robotics, visit www.bestinc.org.
Rasna Baweja is a 7th-grade media team member of the Ereckson Middle School Robotics Team.
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