A first-year team from the Edgewood Elementary Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics Academy will compete in the 2025 Vex Robotics Championship tournament in Dallas in May.
Fifth-graders Julian Ault, Emmett Brubaker, Tate Norman and Parker Yatsko-Shurr, as part of the IQ Pandas, earned two qualifying awards in the Western Pennsylvania VEX IQ Robotics State Elementary Championship tournament on March 4 at Clarion University.
They are the first team from the Woodland Hills School District to reach the championship in the two years the district has offered competitive robotics.
“Making it to VEX Worlds is a goal that all of our teams strive for,” said Tina Dietrich, director of STEAM and Innovation for Woodland Hills. “I just don't think we expected to be able to do it this early.”
The competition provides elementary and middle school students the opportunity to sharpen their skills in science, technology, engineering and mathematics along with soft skills like communication, collaboration and time management.
Students design, build, program and drive a robot and test it year-round at regional, state and national levels. In competitions, two randomly paired teams work together to toss padded balls into goals. Teams are awarded points for goals, as well as completed passes and other minutiae.
The students are graded on the quality of their builds, their communication with other teams and details in their engineering notebooks.
At the Western Pennsylvania state championship, the IQ Pandas won the Excellence Award for demonstrating overall excellence in all aspects of a competition, and a Teamwork Champion Award for consistently demonstrating high performance and teamwork on the field.
They were one of three local teams who qualified for the world championship at the Western Pennsylvania state championships.
UnderDawgs, from Marshall Middle School in the North Allegheny School District, earned a Teamwork Champion Award in the IQ robotics middle school competition.
2^15-1, of Shady Side Academy, was named Robot Skills Champion in the V5 robotics high school competition, where it had the highest robot skills score.
The IQ Pandas have modest goals heading into their first world championship.
“We are nervous because there will be a lot of teams that have more experience and skill,” said Emmett, 11, of Forest Hills.
Julian, 10, of Edgewood, said he and his teammates are working to improve.
Tate, 10, of Rankin, said the team aims to have fun, rank among the top 50 teams in their division and win an award.
Parker, 10, of Braddock Hills, looks forward to meeting people from all over the world.
Trista Yatsko-Shurr expects it to be an enriching experience for her son and his teammates.
“It is so much more than building a cool computer and making friends,” she said. “Now, they are going to learn from and strategize with teams from different countries.”
First Published: March 20, 2025, 9:30 a.m.
