NORFOLK, Va. — More than 200 middle and high school students from the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia are testing their skills in science and technology at the FIRST Tech Challenge Robotics Norfolk qualifier.
The competition was held at Norfolk State University’s Gill gymnasium.
The brightest students across the DMV were challenged in their teamwork and ingenuity skills.
The competition is presented by the POWERPLAY challenge sponsored through Raytheon Technology.
Students who win the Norfolk VA qualifier will advance to the FIRST Chesapeake Tech Challenge Championship, which will be sponsored by Capital One in Severn, Maryland on February 11.
Nathan Dsouza, an 8th grader at L Douglas Wilder Middle School, tells News 3 that today’s event is the perfect opportunity for him to learn more about robotics from his peers.
“Well, it’s all about learning from other teams as we are middle school students, you know, always learning and I feel like this is a great opportunity to look at some of the high school robots and take some things in, said Dsouza. “
The goal of today’s qualifier is not only to select the top teams to advance to the championship competition but to promote problem-solving in collaborative settings.
Judges took notes on teams’ problem-solving skills, teamwork, and how well they form alliances with each other to help their robots complete each course.
Team captain, CJ Frazier, a sophomore at Tunstall High School tells News 3 that he is enjoying the experience and looks forward to having fun.
“It’s going to be a fun day and there are multiple people out there that are putting themselves out there for the amazing stuff they did and I can’t wait to see how everything checks out,” said Frazier.
To learn more about the FIRST Tech Challenge Robotics competition visit firstchesapeake.org
.