By Dr. Caryn Long, Director of Educational Technology and Innovation
MVA’s Middle School robotics teams performed well at the House of Bacon Prequalifier at the UF Agricultural extension grounds in Orlando on December 2, 2023.
Students on Teams #Grandma, #Grandpa, and #Uncle showed their robotics expertise by competing in four separate robotic “runs” where each run was scored and the highest of the scores were continually added to their presentation scores. Each team stood in front of a group of three judges to defend their innovation project (a hobby that was adjusted to be more inclusive using technology and the arts), robot and program design, and Core Values, which are the foundation of the competition.
The judging interviews are 75 percent of the overall score. Team #Grandpa came away with three awards that included Top in Core Values, a bid to attend the Regional Qualifiers on January 13 at Edgewater High School in Orlando, and a bid to present their Innovation Project to engineering students at Embry Riddle in February. Team #Grandma received an alternate bid to attend
the Regional Qualifier. And Mr. Beltz received the Coach Award from a field of 17 different teams.
We are immensely proud of all of the students on each team for how they represented the Middle School Robotics program and Montverde Academy.
