Emporians compete in robotics
Nancy Horst
Friday, February 29, 2008
Students from four Emporia schools participated in a Robotics Competition earlier this month at Burlington Middle School. A total of 23 students from Riverside, Lowther North and South, and Emporia Middle School joined 12 other schools in the competition on Feb. 13.
EMS students Joshua Ralston and Jacob Riggs placed first over-all and the team of Navdeep Singh and Arun Paramanathan placed second, according to sponsor Ruth Vilander.
Another EMS team of Tyler Gilbert, Daniel Elliot and Joey Deal placed fourth in the 25-foot Race and 100-foot Race, she said.
Lowther North students John Burton and Matthew Urrutia placed third in the 25-foot dash, according to sponsor Laura Albertson.
Robotics Clubs are part of the QUEST after-school program at EMS and Lowther Intermediate Schools. EMS sponsors are Vilander and Dawn Young. Lowther sponsors are Albertson and Linda Barker.
Other students who participated are: Maurice Scott, Wayne Renfro and Ismael Juarez II, EMS; Kegan Magathan, Cole Kelley, Roberto Lara, Zac White, Cody Kerbs, Lowther South; Maddie Bair, James Olsson, Jonathan Ralston, Dalton Wilson, Zane Hughes, from Lowther North; and Mason Mohn, from Riverside.
Robotics is a QUEST after-school program open to any student at the intermediate and middle schools. Vilander said the club allows students to use science and technology to work as a team and solve problems. They build robots and practice in various competitions. Some competitions, such as the Burlington meet, allow students to modify their robots and compete again to improve their times in timed events.