HUNTINGTON, W.Va. Rainy Saturday mornings and malfunctioning elevators did not stop Roosevelt Elementary students from making school history in the Marshall University Vex IQ Qualifier.

The students participated in their first tournament with the newly formed robotics team, Robocats, last weekend. They are the only Vex robotics elementary team in Mason County.

Roosevelts team consists of 14 fourth through sixth graders and is led by Sarah Starcher, special education teacher and now, robotics coach.

This is Starchers first time leading a robotics team. She said she had heard about the program from a friend and was immediately interested.

I have a friend that has people who do this in Kanawha County, Starcher said. We need something like that in Mason County, so I kind of dove into it headfirst. I was, like, this is something Im going to try and so far, its been really great. The kids love it, I love it.

For some students, the team is putting everything they like together into competitive form.

I like science and I like robots, said Ryan Matheny, sixth grader. The robot pieces look a lot like Legos, and I like Legos.

Participants had the opportunity to build their own robot, as well as learn how to code the programming needed for it to run. The Vex competition allows them to put that knowledge to practice.

Students come to compete and there are five different awards-design, excellence, teamwork challenge and driving skills, Starcher said.

They drive in an alliance, Starcher added. So were paired with other schools, and they are scoring as many points as they can in one minute. They also have a chance to drive, just two driver team and score as many points as they can, thats their driving skills. The students have also coded the robot to drive autonomously by itself and they get one minute to see how many points their robot can score by itself just from their coded program.

Despite a rocky lunch where a few students found themselves stuck in an elevator, sixth grader Reghan Cossin did not let it put a damper on her excitement for the day.

I really like engineering and I really like science, so whenever they said they were going to have a robotics team, I was like, Absolutely. I need the paper, I need to fill it out, I turned it in the first day, Cossin said.

Cossin shared her excitement and how it is more than just building a robot

Theres a lot of bumps in the road on the way to a goal. Like the counselor in our school has always said that, Cossin said. But really weve changed our design like seven times. There was a lot of technical difficulties, but we got it and were doing pretty good.

While Roosevelt is an elementary team, the challenge paired them up with various students from fourth through eighth grade.

Everybody has been super nice; the kids have made new friends. Another team brought them bracelets. Starcher said. Theyve been talking strategy, like what their robot can do and what it cant and how they can work together to score the most points.

Both of Roosevelts teams qualified for finals in the competitions and left taking home second and third place overall rankings.

Funding for the program has come from various grants Starcher has applied for, fundraising, and community sponsors.

Starcher is hoping to continue the program next year, as well as expand it.

Kids werent really sure what this was this year, Starcher explained. Theyre seeing it at school, and theyre interested in it.

I did get a grant through the Rick and Tanya Handley Charitable Fund. They have provided me with some smaller robots. Its not Vex, but its Sphero robots and its called a Dash Robot. Those are geared more for younger kids, Starcher explained. So, Im going to work collaboratively with teachers at school in first and second grade. Were going to have them start doing some different activities. So theyll just start the basic foundations of coding and programming.

The team is working on their next fundraiser, but are always appreciative of donations.

Each competition has a fee, but where I have two teams, both teams are charged for competition. Theres a couple that are free that we are going to, Starcher said. Ive filled out some grants and were planning on more fundraisers too just to keep funding in our account that way we have the money there. Sometimes we find out we need more parts than what we have and we have to order them.

To contribute to the Robocats, contact Roosevelt Elementary school.

Pictured are members of the Robocats team and staff, including, back row, from left, Dixie Oliver, Gabriella King, Madison Farley, Reghan Cossin, Abigail Oliver, Sarah Starcher, Ryan Matheny; front row, from left, Shelly Durst, Levi Legg, Rilie Wamsley, Layland Maynor, Mason Barnette, Hadleigh Cossin, Claire Thompson.

Pictured are scenes from the Marshall University Vex IQ Qualifier, where Roosevelt Elementary students made school history by competing as team Robocats. Roosevelts team consists of 14 fourth through sixth graders and is led by Sarah Starcher, special education teacher and now, robotics coach. Both of Roosevelts teams qualified for finals in the competitions and left taking home second and third place overall rankings.

Pictured are scenes from the Marshall University Vex IQ Qualifier, where Roosevelt Elementary students made school history by competing as team Robocats. Roosevelts team consists of 14 fourth through sixth graders and is led by Sarah Starcher, special education teacher and now, robotics coach. Both of Roosevelts teams qualified for finals in the competitions and left taking home second and third place overall rankings.

Pictured are scenes from the Marshall University Vex IQ Qualifier, where Roosevelt Elementary students made school history by competing as team Robocats. Roosevelts team consists of 14 fourth through sixth graders and is led by Sarah Starcher, special education teacher and now, robotics coach. Both of Roosevelts teams qualified for finals in the competitions and left taking home second and third place overall rankings.

Pictured are scenes from the Marshall University Vex IQ Qualifier, where Roosevelt Elementary students made school history by competing as team Robocats. Roosevelts team consists of 14 fourth through sixth graders and is led by Sarah Starcher, special education teacher and now, robotics coach. Both of Roosevelts teams qualified for finals in the competitions and left taking home second and third place overall rankings.

Pictured are scenes from the Marshall University Vex IQ Qualifier, where Roosevelt Elementary students made school history by competing as team Robocats. Roosevelts team consists of 14 fourth through sixth graders and is led by Sarah Starcher, special education teacher and now, robotics coach. Both of Roosevelts teams qualified for finals in the competitions and left taking home second and third place overall rankings.

Roosevelt Robocats take on Vex Robotic Challenge

Brittany Hively is a freelance writer for Ohio Valley Publishing and graduate of Marshall University, with a bachelors degree in public relations and journalism. She is currently working towards her MBA, also at Marshall. Reach her at hayes100@marshall.edu.

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The robotics revolution - Daily Sentinel