WEST NORRITON – Five Norristown Area School District Robotics Club teams will soon head to Texas to compete on the world stage.
Around 25 students will travel next month to the VEX Robotics World Championship. The finalists consist of three high school teams and two middle school teams. Team 255M won the design award at the state competition earlier this month, but Coach Tom Auman learned on Sunday that teams 255A, 255D, 255X, and 255Y were also selected to participate.
“This is a brand new experience for us,” Auman told MediaNews Group, noting that the club had only ever had two teams at one time go to the world championships.
The school district’s robotics club has grown over the past decade since Auman took over the team. It started with two teams made up of less than a dozen students.
This year, the club has between 55 and 60 students that make up eight high school teams and three middle school teams. Auman said that club representatives have gone to the world competition for three consecutive years.
The additional teams were selected through a “wild card system,” where Auman said several factors including team standings, merit and past awards are taken into account. The aforementioned teams were taken off the “waitlist” and deemed eligible for the world championship.
While Norristown Area School District students are currently on spring break, Auman said it didn’t take long for them to hear of the news.
“They’re all very excited at this point,” Auman said.
Between 800 and 1,000 teams from across the globe in 10 divisions will go to the Lonestar State to participate in the tournament, which will take place from April 25-27 at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas.
Fundraising efforts are ongoing for students looking to compete. Auman said those interested in offering financial assistance to club members can do so by writing a check to the Norristown Area School District with “robotics club” in the memo line.
Along with robotics preparations, there’s still some administrative work that has to be done for those who qualified, including booking hotel rooms and finding parents to chaperone, Auman said. The club received authorization from school board members at a meeting last week.
Auman added that students will prepare for the upcoming competition by “adapting their designs slightly, the robot designs, either working on them a little bit more just tightening them up” before the robots are shipped down to Texas.
Auman has stressed time and time again the club is “student-led” and applauded their efforts getting to this point where they will soon represent the Norristown area on the world stage.
“It just demonstrates that our program is effective, and I’ll say the correct way, because … the kids depend on the other kids mostly. While some other clubs you see around the country, around the world, depend on parents and adult engineers to construct robots for kids,” Auman said. “We don’t do that. The kids do everything correctly themselves.”
Norristown Area School District Robotics Club members will also be recognized next month in Harrisburg as state Rep. Greg Scott, D-54th Dist., highlights their accomplishments in the General Assembly.
“As the Norristown Area School District Robotics Club prepares for the VEX Robotics World Championship, our pride and excitement couldn’t be higher,” Scott said in a statement to MediaNews Group. “Our teams’ success is a symbol of hard work, innovation and determination. As they head to Dallas, we’re not just optimistic for their victory, but also for the valuable experiences they’ll bring back.”
