Isle robotic students fare well in championship event
Robotics students working together from Honokaa High, McKinley High and Waiakea High earned second place in the three-day, second annual VEX Robotics Pan-Pacific Championship that ended last night at the Hawaii Convention Center.
Four Hawai'i schools Honokaa High School, Waiakea High School, McKinley High School and Pearl Highlands Intermediate also qualified to advance to the VEX Robotics World Championship that will take place at the Dallas Convention Center and Arena April 22 to 24.
Nearly 1,000 middle and high school engineering, science and math students from Hawai'i, California, Nevada and China participated in 132 qualifying matches involving 86 student teams from 48 schools.
A three-team alliance from Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose, Calif. took the top honors, finishing as the Pan-Pacific Champions.
Twenty-four teams, including 18 from Hawai'i, competed in the final championship rounds.
The eight three-team alliances that competed in the finals were:
Highlands Intermediate, McKinley High (Team E), Moanalua High (Team C).
Bellarmine College Preparatory (Teams A, B and C).
Kalaheo High, McKinley High (Team F), Moanalua High (Team A).
HonokaΗa High, McKinley High, Waiakea High.
Campbell High, Hawaii Baptist Academy, Campbell High (Team B).
Nanning Minzhu Primary School (Teams A), Guangxi, China; Changping Middle School, Guangdong province, China; High School Attached to Northeast Normal University from Jilin province, China.
Kalani High, McKinley High (Team D), Farrington High.
Waialua High & Intermediate (Team A), Mililani High (Teams A and B).
Other award-winning Hawai'i teams were:
McKinley High (Team E): Robot Skills Champion and Programming Skills Champion.
Lahainaluna High (Team M): Programming Skills, second place.
Hawaii Baptist Academy: Think Award.
'Iolani School: Energy Award.
Lahainaluna High: Judges Award.
Honoka'a High: Judges Award.
Kalaheo High: Build Award.
KauaiBots: Create Award
Kaiser High and Niu Valley Middle: Sportsmanship Award.
Highlands Intermediate: Excellence Award (Middle School).
McKinley High: Excellence Award (High School).
