Louisville, KY – April 30, 2019 – Today, The Robotics Education & Competition (REC) Foundation recognized the VEX IQ Challenge (VIQC) Elementary & Middle School World Champions at the 2019 VEX Robotics World Championship. Teams from Indiana, Canada, and China engaged in series of robotic engineering challenges over the last four days to ultimately be crowned world champions. Students persevered through exciting timed matches with their customized robots as they competed with other teams from across the globe.
“Our World Champions worked through difficult challenges while showcasing innovation, teamwork, and creative problem-solving to achieve the most coveted honor. They are truly role models of the robotics community,” said Dan Mantz, CEO of the REC Foundation. “Through STEM education, we are shaping the learners of today into technology leaders of tomorrow.”
Additionally, Sylvia Acevedo, CEO, Girls Scouts of the USA, was recognized with the Inspiration All-Star Award within the REC Foundation’s STEM Hall of Fame for her dedication to engage more girls in STEM education by offering hands-on learning, resources and tools along with reducing societal barriers to offer a more inclusive environment. Her efforts are encouraging the next generation of girls to pursue STEM interests.
“I am honored to receive this award, which only fuels my passion to engage more girls in STEM education,” said Sylvia Acevedo, CEO of the Girls Scouts. “Technology now transcends most industries making it a critical time to inspire girls to pursue STEM activities while establishing a more inclusive environment for learning. As a former scientist, it’s a thrill to see more girls participating in the robotics and STEM community.”
2019 World Champions include:
Over 30,000 people including more than 1,650 teams from 40 nations gathered in Louisville, KY for the 12th annual VEX Robotics World Championship. The four-day competition culminated with the unveiling of the new game, 2019-20 VEX IQ Challenge Squared Away. Students will have one year to design a robot to play the game, which is now available.
The REC Foundation’s VEX Robotics World Championship is presented by the Northrop Grumman Foundation along with other global sponsors that support the program year-round and at the world championship include: Autodesk, Dell, Google, HEXBUG, IFI, NASA, Rack Solutions, Robomatter, Tesla, Texas Instruments, Toyota, TVA, VEX Robotics, MathWorks, Microchip, UPS, Nordson, Nissan, Robot Mesh, Advanced Manufacturing and Logistic Network, Kentucky Tourism, Arts & Heritage Cabinet, Maker Mobile, Inc., TATA consulting, and ZEON. For more information, please visit http://www.vexworlds.com.
The Robotics Education & Competition (REC) Foundation’s mission is to increase student interest and involvement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by engaging students in hands-on, affordable, and sustainable robotics engineering programs.
VEX Robotics is a leading provider of educational and competitive robotics products to schools, universities, and robotics teams around the world. The VEX IQ and VEX EDR product lines span elementary, middle, and high schools with accessible, scalable, and affordable robotics solutions. Beyond science and engineering principles, a VEX Robotics project encourages teamwork, leadership, and problem solving among groups. It allows educators to easily customize projects to meet the level of students’ abilities as they inspire & prepare the STEM problem-solvers of tomorrow.
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