By Jean McDermott, I.J. Holton Principal

Students at I.J. Holton Intermediate School are demonstrating a high interest in robotics. While all sixth-grade students participate in the Automation and Robotics Exploratory Class, it leaves many students wanting more. Last year, 98 hopeful students applied to be selected as part of one of two competition robotics teams. These two teams earned their way to the state tournament by competing against both high-school and middle-school students. This year, 157 students applied to participate on the VEX robotics competition teams. In order to serve more students, three teams were created. A foundational goal of robotics has been to provide equitable access for all students to value diverse perspectives and prior knowledge. These teams spent months using the design process to design, build, and program a robot to meet the criteria of this year’s game, “Nothing But Net.”

Each year, an engineering challenge is presented in the form of a game. Students, with guidance from their coach, Mrs. Jensen, and student mentor, Carson Hjelmen, use the VEX Robotics Design System to build innovative robots designed to score the most points possible in qualification matches, bracket elimination, and skills challenges. Students learn valuable engineering skills, gain life skills such as teamwork, perseverance, communication, collaboration, project management, and critical thinking. The VEX Robotics Competition prepares students to become future innovators in STEM subject areas and increase their interest in pursuing STEM-related careers.

Students competed in four tournaments where they worked to overcome many obstacles throughout the season. By the end of the season, team 8440A and 8440C earned invitations to the state tournament due to their high ranking in the skills challenge portion of the tournament. Team 8440B earned a state tournament and U.S. Open Championship invitation due to their performance at the Austin tournament where they were the programming skills champion. Team 8440A earned an invitation to the Open Division at the U.S. Open Championship.

Students traveled to the State Tournament in St. Cloud on Jan. 29-30 to compete for several awards. Throughout the competition, students participated in judge’s interviews, skills challenges in autonomous and driver control, and alliance game play. Due to their high ranking and robot performance throughout the tournament, team 8440C was chosen to participate in bracket elimination where they took second place at the tournament which earned them an invitation to the World Championship in Louisville, Kentucky.

I.J. Holton Robotics is currently funded by generous grants from the Austin Public Education Foundation, business sponsorships, and parent donation to cover regular season expenses. Due to the success of this year’s teams, we are in need of additional support from our community to ensure that these students have the opportunity to participate in the U.S. Open and World Championship competitions. We are currently looking to raise $20,000 to ensure all students can participate. This amount will cover all costs of travel, lodging, food, team registrations, and additional robot parts and pieces necessary for teams to prepare for their events.

The U.S. Open competition will be held in Council Bluffs, Iowa, April 7-9 where students will compete against the top 100 teams in the United States. The World Championship will be held in Louisville, Kentucky, April 20-23 where students will compete against the top 150 teams in the world including Singapore, Brazil, Germany, and France.

To ensure that we can secure our trips to these important events, community donations are appreciated! Without your help we will not be able to give the kids this opportunity.

Donations can be sent to I.J. Holton Robotics, Attn: Coach Kaylene Jensen, 1800 Fourth Ave. SE, Austin MN. Make checks payable to Austin Public Schools and place “robotics” on the memo line.

We also have a Go Fund Me page that can be accessed at www.gofundme.com/afmh6yrh. Check us out at www.ijholtonvexrobotics.weeble.com or twitter.com/holton_vex. State Tournament Send off: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yz1Juf5H5w&list=PLmgMXdRhmzlL_PmOQM2m5hF6X76d-xBNl.

As a non-profit group, all donations are tax deductible.