Students from Windom middle and high school were awarded the Excellence Award at the Dream It Do It Northern Minnesota VEX Robotics Tournament in Bemidji in mid-February. Riverland Community College provided the Robotics kit that enabled Windom team to participate. With this award, the Windom Eagles qualified to compete at the VEX Robotics World Championship in Anaheim, Calif., in April.

The group’s practice included a scrimmage at Riverland. Peggy Young, training and development consultant at Riverland, introduced the team to VEX Robotics.

“I am proud to see the improvements this team has made from competing in a scrimmage to competing in a tournament,” Young said. “Even more, they respect their competitors and advocated for them. We are building more than robots here — we are shaping our future innovators to positively impact the world around them.”

They will compete again in the Dream It Do It Central Minnesota VEX Robotics Tournament on March 2 at River’s Edge Convention Center in St. Cloud.