
Prince
William
County
Public
Schools
(PWCS)
robotics
coaches
were
determined
to
offer
a
robotics
season
for
students.
Creative
scheduling
and
coordinating
allowed
teams
to
start
meeting
virtually
to
build
their
robots.
Last
spring,
coaches
started
making
plans
to
host
a
robotics
season
for
the
2020-21
school
year.
They
started
meeting
virtually
and
building
an
online
library
of
resources.
VEX
robotics
and
FIRST
robotics
representatives
took
an
active
interest
in
the
School
Division's
plans
because
PWCS
is
one
of
the
only
school
divisions
still
hosting
robotics.
In
the
fall,
teams
started
designing
their
robots
during
Zoom
meetings.
After
creating
a
set
of
blueprints,
students
gave
a
list
of
parts
to
their
coaches,
who
then
gathered
the
parts
and
put
them
in
a
bag
for
students
to
pick
up
from
the
school.
During
the
building
phase,
students
again
met
on
Zoom,
but
split
into
groups.
Denyse
Carroll,
PWCS
science,
technology,
engineering,
and
math
(STEM)
and
robotics
initiatives
specialist,
explained,
"The
design
has
already
been
approved
by
the
team,
so
one
student
has
the
parts
to
build
the
chassis
and
over
Zoom
his
or
her
teammates
are
helping
with
the
build
by
sharing
their
ideas.
Other
groups
are
working
on
the
other
parts
of
the
robot
in
the
same
way.
Students
can
also
drop
off
completed
pieces
to
each
other's
homes,
but
before
doing
this,
they've
been
taught
how
to
disinfect
the
robot
pieces,
so
we
can
keep
the
students
safe."
There
have
been
several
advantages
to
teams
meeting
virtually.
For
example,
meeting
virtually
means
there's
no
need
for
transportation
to
attend
a
meeting.
High
school
and
middle
school
robotics
students
have
been
volunteering
to
assist
elementary
school
teams.
Also,
teams
at
schools
in
different
parts
of
the
county
have
started
working
collaboratively.
At
the
middle
school
level,
the
teams
from
Fred
M.
Lynn
Middle
School
and
Unity
Braxton
Middle
School
meet
together.
In
December,
the
Virginia
High
School
League
(VHSL)
granted
permission
for
sports
teams
to
begin
meeting
in-person.
Because
robotics
is
considered
a
sport,
some
robotics
teams
are
now
meeting
in-person
and
virtually.
The
School
Division
already
has
a
few
wins
this
season.
VEX
Team
20164T,
also
known
as
the
Tiger
Sharks,
from
Charles
J.
Colgan
Sr.
High
School,
took
first
place
at
the
VEX
Robotics
Seton
Christmas
tournament
and
Team
Spunkies
at
Chris
Yung
Elementary
School
took
first
place
at
the
Virginia
+
DC
FIRST
LEGO
League
(FLL)
tournament.
In
early
March
at
Bull
Run
Middle
School,
the
School
Division
hosted
a
skills
tournament
for
middle
and
high
school
VEX
robotics
teams;
PWCS'
first
in-person
competition
in
over
a
year.
Physical
distancing
guidelines
proved
to
be
an
advantage.
Teams
were
scheduled
to
take
to
the
playing
field
in
time
slots
which
also
gave
them
30
minutes
of
one-on-one
time
with
the
volunteer
judges.
Student
teams
received
suggestions
on
tweaks
to
make
to
their
robots
and
game
strategy
for
future
competitions.
Buckerewz
and
Cosmos,
teams
from
Forest
Park
High
School,
had
the
top
two
best
runs,
respectively.
Gar-Field
High
School's
TBD
2
placed
third.
At
the
middle
school
level,
Parkside
Middle
School's
DaVinci's
Visionaries
was
the
first-place
team.
Breakfast
Time
from
Lake
Ridge
Middle
School
came
in
second
place
and
Edison's
Engineers,
also
from
Parkside
Middle,
placed
third.
Ben
Mitchell,
a
regional
manager
for
the
Robotics
Education
&
Competition
Foundation,
said,
"What
Denyse
and
the
educators
and
staff
at
Prince
William
County
Public
Schools
have
done
during
this
pandemic
to
support
STEM
education
is
nothing
short
of
inspiring.
The
easy
thing
to
have
done
would
have
been
to
give
up
and
write
the
year
off.
Instead,
every
week,
PWCS
is
working
to
keep
students
engaged,
to
make
the
most
of
the
resources
they
have,
and
to
come
out
of
this
stronger
than
they
were
before."