On Saturday, April 13th, 2024, the Southern Oaks Robotics team participated in their first T.R.E.A.S.U.R.E. Air, Sea, Land competition at Treasure Coast High School. Students (Aja Edwards, Trey Johnson, Matthew Abrego, Jayden Campbell, Michael Rodriguez, Luis Henry, Myles Licciardi, Brent Topmiller, Bailey Oddo, and Joseph Annis) paired up with Westwood Robotics students (Priscilla Hossain, Emmett Mounts, and Ashton Cooks) to put their built Tetrix robots to the test!
Students entered their submersible (underwater), air, and land drones in the competitions to navigate through augmented reality courses. They also entered their air drones in an above-the-field scavenger hunt that aimed to find numbers and decode them for clues! Finally, Students coded their land rovers to tackle man-made obstacles.
Our drone coaches for the event were Mrs. Benjamin (coding), Mr. Glover(air drones), Westwood’s Robotics teacher, Mrs. Britne Bartlett (land/sea drones), and Mr. Annis (continuous motivation and support through complex tasks) students successfully completed the air, sea, and land drone missions with the help of their high school counterparts. Students are especially thankful to the coordinators of this event, Mr. Lazar Sabatay, Monica Garcia, and Treasure Coast HS students, who invited and guided our SOAR-ing Hawks through this seven-hour competition. Finally, we’d like to thank our teammates who weren’t able to make it, but provided constant support to our students throughout competition day via phone and video chat!
Students won first place in their middle school division!! But the real win comes from the enjoyment and academic knowledge gained by collaborating with their high school counterparts. These are the competitions that our students will not soon forget.
Next stop on their wild flight…. Southern Oaks Middle School Robotics students will tackle courses to earn their recreational drone license!
