TRINIDAD – Two area robotics teams including Raton High School and Trinidad Mid-school, are headed to a regional tournament in Arkansas after top finishes in the inaugural BEST Robotics Hub Competition at Trinidad State on Saturday, October 24th. BEST, an acronym for Boosting Engineering Science and Technology, is an educational robotics program involving schools across the country. There are three hubs in Colorado, two in the Denver area and the other at Trinidad State.
Seven middle and high schools from the area fielded teams, traveling from Branson, Hoehne, Primero, Raton, Swink, Antonito and Trinidad.
Students face a challenge and must solve problems, build, adapt and strategize. And on game day there’s the added pressure of a three-minute time limit and live competition. At Scott Gym, about two hundred people showed up to watch.
Since this is about learning, schools also have the option of competing for the BEST Award. It includes a notebook of how the robot was built, an exhibit, interviews, plus points for spirit and sportsmanship. Those scores are averaged in with the scores the robot receives on the Game Field. Raton High School won the BEST Award when the numbers were tallied at the end of the day.
So Trinidad Middle School and Raton High School have earned the right to continue the BEST challenge at a regional meet in Fort Smith, Arkansas in early December.
Raton High School Robotics GRRT team members included Baylor Walton, Brooke Fleming, Donavin Mendez, Rhianna Hopper, Noah Schoonover, Benjamin Sanchez, Jaden Martinez, Ellen Sanchez and Zena Burgos. Sponsors are Jo Alm and Liz Wick.
The program is supported by donations and is free to participating schools. Well over 800 schools across the country now field a team each year.
If anyone is interested in volunteering, donating or sponsoring next year, please contact Krystalee Moreno at Trinidad State 719-846-5657 or Krystalee.Moreno@trinidadstate.edu.
