NORTH LOGAN – Six students from In-Tech Collegiate High School will soon be part of a small team on their way to the World Vex Robotics Championship in Louisville, Kentucky. As IT Director, Jens Trauntvein is extremely proud of his students and pleased he chose education for his field.
He said the championships are essentially the Olympics of the robotics competition world. More than 560 of the best high school robotics teams from across the globe will be competing.
Trauntvein said the team, named 2993 Moosen, is in its third year of building competitive robots, has won multiple awards – including outstanding robot design at the Utah State University competition – and deserves to be recognized.
“Being able to watch people and students that come in with maybe a little bit of experience in a certain area and giving them the tools and showing them how to make some progress, that’s the real treasure trove of the field,” he said. “That experience of watching growth and watching them get to a point where they’re going to a world championship.”
Thayer Williams, one of the student competitors, said his interested in robotics started years earlier when he first heard something about a robotics club.
“So I went and they started to teach us about robotics and programing and electronics and stuff like that,” he said. “Then they started the Vex team at a club. The year after that, when I went to high school, I joined our high school robotics team. After that, the four years of robotics, I came to love it more and more.”
The competition will take place from April 25 to 28.