You don't want to miss the exciting
competition between Julian & Brooks students, who have been
designing, building and programming their robots since October! The 6th
annual middle school Vex Robotics Competition will take place at 9:00
am on Saturday, February 5, at the Julian gym, 416 S. Ridgeland in Oak
Park. It's open to the public.
The Oak Park Education
Foundation's Vex Robotics program is open to all 6th, 7th and 8th grade
students at both Julian and Brooks -- no experience required. Students
work closely with teachers as well as professional engineers and other
adults who volunteer their time and expertise to help them think and
build like engineers.
This year's competition,
called "Round Up," is a game that challenges robots to move plastic
tubes onto goal posts, and to climb a ladder in the center of the
field. This is the first year that District 97 students are
participating in the official Vex competition, so that students who do
well in the District 97 event can go on to compete in a regional
competition the following weekend.
Round Up will include
short competitions between remote-controlled robots as well as rounds
featuring robots that operate autonomously.
This year's event is
sponsored by Aria Group Architects.
Founded in 1989, the Oak
Park Education Foundation is an independent nonprofit that brings
enrichment programs, and experts from the arts, sciences and
engineering, into District 97 schools. In addition to Vex
Robotics, we run Art Start (visiting artists), Geared Up (engineering
with Legos), Global Village (visiting scientists) and Architecture
Adventure (visiting architects).