GREENVILLE, TX – October 4, 2016 – The Robotics Education & Competition Foundation has received a generous $20,000 challenge grant from Microchip Technology Inc.—a leading provider of microcontroller, mixed-signal, analog and Flash-IP solutions headquartered in Chandler, Arizona—to support the growth of the VEX IQ Challenge and the VEX Robotics Competition in Arizona. Through the grant, the REC Foundation and Microchip will invite other businesses and organizations to support the effort and double the grant, which would provide a total of $40,000 to fund up to 40 new robotics teams and support VEX Robotics events.
“We are excited to support VEX Robotics, where students can learn Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) in a fun, hands-on engineering challenge building robots for competition,” said Steve Sanghi, President and CEO of Microchip. “We have a responsibility to our children to offer opportunities for them to engage, take risks and actually build things. With VEX, they also learn teamwork, project management, critical thinking and working on a deadline. By offering a matching grant, we hope to excite potential sponsors to support educational efforts and improve our community.”
“Microchip is a long-standing supporter of youth robotics, and we are grateful for their many contributions to expand the reach of the VEX IQ Challenge and the VEX Robotics Competition in Arizona,” said Jason Morrella, President, REC Foundation. “I welcome the opportunity to work with other organizations to bring sustainable, curriculum-based robotics engineering programs to more students across the state.”
Through its community-involvement programs, Microchip supports the VEX IQ Challenge for elementary and middle-school students, and the VEX Robotics Competition, for middle and high-school students, to engage students in STEM, creating the next generation of leaders in these fields. Microchip supports a number of teams in the area, and will host the Arizona VEX IQ Challenge Middle School State Championship on February 25, 2017 at their Chandler location. At the State Championship, teams will vie for coveted qualifying spots to attend VEX Robotics World Championship, the season’s culminating event that will bring together over 1,400 of the best teams from around the world to crown a robotics world champion across three programs: the VEX IQ Challenge, VEX Robotics Competition and VEX U.
The REC Foundation currently supports well over 16,000 teams in 40 countries around the world through the VEX IQ Challenge, VEX Robotics Competition and VEX U, which reach students in elementary, middle, high school and college. In Arizona, over 300 teams competed at 50 events last year. The program encourages students to design, build and program a robot that can solve an annual game challenge. The 2016-17 season is now open with the VEX IQ Challenge game Crossover, and the VEX Robotics Competition game Starstruck. For more information about the VEX IQ Challenge and the VEX Robotics Competition, 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. The REC Foundation develops partnerships with K-12 education, higher education, government, industry, and the non-profit community to achieve this work.
About Microchip Technology
Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MCHP) is a leading provider of microcontroller, mixed-signal, analog and Flash-IP solutions, providing low-risk product development, lower total system cost and faster time to market for thousands of diverse customer applications worldwide. Headquartered in Chandler, Arizona, Microchip offers outstanding technical support along with dependable delivery and quality. For more information, visit the Microchip website at http://www.microchip.com.
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