Johnson County Middle School robotics team makes school history … – WCYB

Johnson County robotics team to...

MOUNTAIN CITY, Tenn. - After winning a state title, the Johnson County Middle School robotics team is the only one from a public school in Tennessee to qualify for the world tournament.

It is coming up next month, and tonight, News 5's Kristi O'Connor finds out how the team has become more than just an after school program for this group of 7th and 8th graders.

The Johnson County Middle School Robotoics team will head to the 2017 VEX World Robotics Tournament for the first time in school history. They will be judged in four areas including the robot design, their performance on the field, the engineering and design journal and their interviews with the judges.

In the VEX State Tournament this weekend, the team of 7th and 8th graders excelled in all four categories, qualifying them for World.

It is Johnson County's only second year having a robotics team. Their instructor Susan Quave started the program off of two grants and donations, but it has quickly grown.

They started working Tuesdays and Thursday after school, but now they work four sometimes five nights a week for several hours.

"They are the hardest working team," Quave said.

The students designed the robot from scratch. It took them about ten months before they were ready for competition.

While they have been very successful this season, Quave says it is more than just trophies and competitions. She says many of her students now want to make a career out of engineering and robotics. She hopes to make robotics part of the curriculum eventually.

"I personally want to be an aerospace engineer and grow up to work at NASA. I think this will help greatly," Student Isaac Brown said.

"Almost daily there's a new technology that helps make life simpler and there has to be programmers and engineers to do that," Student Robert Coffey said.

The robotics team is still short on travel and hotel expenses. They hope to raise the money before the World Tournament on April 19, which is in Louisville. If you would like to donate, you can make checks out to the Johnson County Middle School Robotics Team.

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Johnson County Middle School robotics team makes school history ... - WCYB