TOWSON, MD—Twenty Baltimore County Public Schools student teams from five schools earned honors recently during the Maryland State VEX Robotics Championships. Eighteen teams from four schools also qualified for the VEX Robotics World Championship to be held in Dallas from Tuesday, April 25, through Thursday, May 4. The VEX Robotics World Championship, presented by the Northrop Grumman Foundation, brings together the top VEX IQ Competition and VEX Robotics Competition teams from more than 40 countries.

The following teams earned awards during the following state championship events. Teams marked with an asterisk have qualified for the VEX World Championship.

Maryland VEX VRC Robotics Middle School State Championship
held on February 18 at Hereford Middle School

• Excellence Award – Hereford Middle School team 9290B*
• Design Award – Hereford Middle School team 9290A*
• Innovate Award – Hereford Middle School team 9290D

Maryland VEX IQ Robotics Middle School State Championship
held February 25 at Woodlawn High School

• Excellence Award – Ridgely Middle School team 952H*
• Teamwork Champion – Ridgely Middle School team 952H
• Robot Skills 2nd place – Ridgely Middle School team 952H
• Teamwork 2nd place – Hereford Middle School team 929T*
• Teamwork 2nd place – Ridgely Middle School team 952J*
• Teamwork 3rd place – Ridgely Middle School team 952M*
• Teamwork 4th place – Ridgely Middle School team 952Z* & Ridgely Middle School team 952S*
• Design Award – Ridgely Middle School team 952M*
• Innovate Award – Ridgely Middle School team 952J*
• Think Award – Ridgely Middle School team 952S*
• Build Award – Hereford Middle School team 929F*

In addition, Hereford Middle School teams 929J and 929B qualified for the VEX World Championship.

Maryland VEX IQ Robotics Elementary School State Championship
held February 25 at Woodlawn High School

• Design Award – Sparks Elementary School team 9290A

In addition, Sparks Elementary School team 9290B qualified for the VEX World Championship. Timonium Elementary School also competed in this event. This was Timonium Elementary’s first year participating in VEX Robotics.

Maryland VEX VRC Robotics High School State Championship
held on March 4 at Dundalk High School/Sollers Point Technical High School

• Excellence Award – Dulaney High School team 1727B*
• Tournament Champion – Hereford High School team 929N*
• Tournament Finalist – Dulaney High School team 1727B*
• Tournament Finalist – Dulaney High School team 1727N*
• Robot Skills Champion – Dulaney High School team 1727B*
• Robot Skills 2nd Place – Hereford High School team 929V*
• Design Award – Dulaney High School team 1727A*
• Innovate Award – Hereford High School team 929S*
• Think Award – Hereford High School team 929N*
• Amaze Award – Dulaney High School team 1727N*

Other top performing BCPS high schools competing at this event were Eastern Technical High School (5839B), Parkville High School (21234A), and Perry Hall High School (960B).

Each year students around BCPS compete in VEX Robotics competitions at the regional, state, and national levels and culminate at the VEX Robotics World Championship. In the VEX IQ Competition, students in elementary and middle school, with guidance from their teachers and mentors, build a robot using simple, snap-together VEX IQ parts to solve an engineering challenge that is presented each year in the form of a game. Teams work together to score points in teamwork matches and get to show off their skills individually in driver-controlled and programming-robot Skills.

“In VEX Robotics competitions, students work together to design, build, and program metal robots that can quickly and efficiently solve specific challenges in a game format,” said Robin Bowden, a supervisor in the BCPS Office of Career and Technical Education. “The competitions foster student development of the teamwork, collaboration, critical thinking, project management, and communication skills required to prepare them to become the next generation of innovators and problem solvers. Congratulations to all BCPS schools that competed during the 2022-2023 season of VEX Robotics: Sparks and Timonium elementary schools; Cockeysville, Hereford, Parkville, Ridgely, and Sparrows Point middle schools; and Dulaney, Eastern Technical, Hereford, Parkville, Perry Hall, Towson, and Woodlawn high schools.”