CABOCES STUDENT CHAMPIIONS
CABOCES STUDENT CHAMPIONS
Cattaraugus-Allegany BOCES Hosted Vex V5 Robotics Competition
TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS: Students from Belfast Central School were named Tournament Champions. The two-team alliance finished first place after the elimination matches. Photo / CABOCES
BELFAST - Cattaraugus-Allegany BOCES hosted a VEX V5 Robotics Competition, welcoming 19 teams of middle and high school students from Belfast, Cattaraugus-Little Valley, Cuba-Rushford, Franklinville, Pioneer, Portville, and Wellsville school districts. The competition featured the latest challenge in the VEX Robotics Competition series, providing a platform for students to demonstrate their creativity, technical skills, and teamwork in a real-world engineering environment.
The VEX V5 Robotics Competition is part of a global series of robotics challenges designed to inspire students to pursue careers in STEM fields. Teams must adapt to changing conditions and fine-tune their robots throughout the event, reflecting real-world engineering processes.
Belfast Central School’s VEX coach, Joshua Hazelton, feels VEX as a program not only develops students’ technical skills in robotics and engineering but also helps build soft skills in collaboration, communication, and problem-solving. “The most useful skills I think students need and that will bring them success after school are critical thinking and problem-solving skills,” he stated. “VEX robotics competitions create an environment and problem set that highly fosters these skills and creates incredible motivation in students through competition.” He further added, “Also, who doesn't love robots!”
Sean Conklin, Coordinator for Arts Integration and Extracurricular Events at CA BOCES, managed this year’s competition. “This was my very first competition with the Student Programs department so I cannot thank my colleagues or the team at Belfast enough for helping it run so smoothly,” he said. “I feel it’s so important that learning occurs in all areas of our students’ lives, and events like this one are crucial for developing 21st century skills. It’s a fun, interactive approach to learning where the students are experiencing the results of their hard work in real time.”
The VEX Robotics Competition is organized and managed by the Robotics Education & Competition Foundation (REC Foundation), a non-profit organization that is committed to advancing STEM education through robotics.
As an integral part of this event, the teams are guided by their coaches, such as Justin Skrzynski, VEX Robotics Coach at Wellsville Secondary School, who shares his perspective on the program: "Eight years ago, I agreed to coach our school robotics teams because I felt there was a need for a program that spoke to those students who aspired to explore careers in engineering, computer science, and mathematics. It’s awesome to watch a team of complete strangers with similar skillsets come together and become a team through the problem solving of the design process.”
As the regional leader in education services, CA BOCES offers state-of-the-art programs for learners of all ages and abilities as well as cost-effective shared services for 22 component school districts. CA BOCES empowers students to achieve their maximum potential by offering a wide variety of innovative programs and support that include special education, career and technical education, adult and continuing education, technology support, and instructional support services. To learn more, visit www.caboces.org.