GREENVILLE, TX - February 16, 2016 - The Robotics Education & Competition (REC) Foundation and the Project Lead the Way Early College & Career Center have announced the VEX Robotics Kentucky Middle School State Championships will be held at the Hardin County Schools Early College & Career Center (EC3) on February 27, 2016 and the VEX IQ Challenge Kentucky State Championship at the Galt House in Louisville, Ky. on February 28, 2016.
The VEX Robotics Kentucky High School State Championships will be held at EC3 on March 5, 2016. The first two events are expected to attract 24 teams each with students from elementary and middle school and the final event for high school students will include over 40 teams from around the state. Over the last year in Kentucky, the VEX IQ Challenge and the VEX Robotics Competition have grown from approximately 130 teams last season to more than 240 teams.
“The Hardin County Schools Early College & Career Center is thrilled to support the growth of robotics in Kentucky by providing teams opportunities to compete locally,” said Jason Neagle, EC3 PLTW instructor. “We’ve seen firsthand how programs like the VEX IQ Challenge and the VEX Robotics Competition increase student interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.”
The REC Foundation’s programs are among the largest and fastest growing in the world and in order to accommodate the explosive growth, the Foundation expects to add a number of state events in the coming years, offering students more opportunities to compete locally. In Kentucky, the REC Foundation partnered with the Jefferson County Public Schools to bring robotics to 30 schools each year, reaching all 135 schools with grants and support from NASA by 2019.
“The REC Foundation recognizes that successfully preparing our children for the future global economy will require a strong foundation in STEM education,” said Jason Morrella, President of the REC Foundation. “Robotics engineering programs naturally engage and inspire students to pursue STEM subjects and careers and we are committed to providing students access to exciting and challenging competition experience like the VEX IQ Challenge and the VEX Robotics Competition to accommodate their growing interest.”
VEX Robotics is the world’s fastest growing competitive robotics program for elementary schools, middle schools, high schools and colleges around the world, with more than 15,000 teams from over 30 countries that participate in more than 1,000 competitions worldwide. The competition season culminates each spring, with VEX Worlds, a highly-anticipated world championship event presented by the Northrop Grumman Foundation and the REC Foundation, which unites top qualifying teams from local, state and international VEX Robotics events. The top award winners from the Kentucky State Championships will go on to compete at VEX Worlds on April 20-23 at the Kentucky Expo Center in Louisville, Kentucky.
For details on additional upcoming events, please visit www.RobotEvents.com, a unique resource for teams and event partners to register and share updates from their robotics competitions. For more information about the REC Foundation, please visit www.RoboticsEducation.org.
About the Robotics Education & Competition Foundation
The REC Foundation seeks to increase student interest and involvement in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by engaging students in hands-on, sustainable and affordable curriculum-based robotics engineering programs across the U.S. and internationally. Its goal is to provide these programs with services, solutions, and a community that allows them to flourish in a way that fosters the technical and interpersonal skills necessary for students to succeed in the 21st Century. The REC Foundation develops partnerships with K-12 education, higher education, government, industry, and the non-profit community to achieve this work so that one day these programs will become accessible to all students and all schools in all communities. For more information on REC Foundation, visit www.RoboticsEducation.org.