Keaau Middle School’s “PunaTechs” robotics team attended the 2017 VEX Worlds robotics competition recently where they earned the Create Award and placed third for the Division Teamwork Challenge.
Keaau Middle School’s “PunaTechs” robotics team attended the 2017 VEX Worlds robotics competition recently where they earned the Create Award and placed third for the Division Teamwork Challenge.
The competition took place in Louisville, Ky., from April 19-25 with more than 1,400 teams competing from around the world. This was the third year Keaau students (middle school and elementary school) competed in the VEX IQ Challenge. Several Keaau students battled at the world competition last year.
Team member Ian Coughran, 14, said he and other students put in “a lot of hours” this year and robots were “a lot more fine-tuned.”
“We weren’t really striving to win last year but this year we actually set our goal to put in a decent effort to win the entire competition and we came close,” Ian said. “Just being able to go was a great experience. It was a great opportunity to go and meet other people. And to say you’re part of that competition was a great honor. I just had a great time over there.”
Keaau robotics teams are part of an after-school, science, technology, engineering and mathematics program for gifted and talented students in grades 4-8.
The PunaTechs members also were presented with a letter of commendation last week from Mayor Harry Kim.