BEST students from 8 states coming soon to Fort Smith

story submitted by the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith

Thirty-eight robotics teams from eight states will be in Fort Smith on Dec. 10-11 for the 2010 Frontier Trails BEST Regional Robotics Competition, sponsored by the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith and the City of Fort Smith.

The teams represent nine local hub competitions in Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, North Dakota and Oklahoma. They advanced to the regional event from their local competitions held earlier and will meet for this round of the competition activities at the Fort Smith Convention Center and at UAFS, according to John Martini of Fort Smith, assistant professor at UAFS and director of the competition.

"Teams begin arriving on Thursday, Dec. 9," said Martini, "and we have a very full schedule for the students who are visiting our city and our campus. The official opening ceremony is at 7:45 a.m. on Dec. 11, with an ending awards ceremony at 5 p.m. This is a great event and an event that the whole family would enjoy. It’s free, and the entire community is invited to come out at any time during the day. Or, spend the day with us."

Each team designs and operates its own robot with a kit supplied for the task, using this year’s theme, "Total Recall." The robotics competitions are held around the nation under the BEST heading, which stands for Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology. The competition started in 1994, and UA Fort Smith has participated since 2003. (Link here for coverage of the 2009 event.)

The teams are given points in several categories, with the highest-level award, the BEST Award, going to the top overall team that most embodies the concept of BEST. An award is also given to the team scoring highest in the robot portion of the event. Other awards are given for notebooks, table displays, interview, Web page designs, T-shirt designs and spirit and sportsmanship.

The hubs and schools competing in this year’s Frontier Trails BEST competition are:
• Bison BEST of Fargo, N.D.: Climax-Shelly Independent School District, Climax, Minn.; New London-Spicer Robotics of New London, Minn.; REACH Homeschool of Sabin, Minn.; Kittson Central High School of Hallock, Minn.; Pelican Rapids High School of Pelican Rapids, Minn.; and Watertown High School of Watertown, S.D.

• Crowley’s Ridge Best of Jonesboro: West Memphis Christian School, West Memphis; Buffalo Island Central, Leachville; Hillcrest High School, Strawberry; Paragould High School, Paragould; Calico Rock High School, Calico Rock; and White Station High School, Memphis, Tenn.

• Heartland BEST of Alva, Okla.: Lawton Academy, Lawton, Okla.; Shattuck High School, Shattuck, Okla.; Fairview High School, Fairview, Okla.; Perry High School, Perry, Okla.; and Wynona High School, Wynona, Okla.

• Kansas BEST of Wichita, Kan.: Wichita Homeschool, Wichita, Kan.; Ambassadors for Christ Academy, Bentonville, Ark.; Circle High School, Towanda, Kan.; and Kansas City Christian School, Prairie Village, Kan.

• Little Rock BEST, Little Rock, Ark.: Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts of Hot Springs; eStem High Public Charter School, Little Rock; Two Rivers School, Ola; and Poyen High School, Poyen.

• Northark BEST of Harrison: Conway High School, Conway, Mo; Lebanon High School, Lebanon, Mo.; and Jefferson City Public Schools, of Jefferson City, Mo.

• OK BEST of Oklahoma City: Tulsa Engineering Academy at Memorial, Tulsa, Okla.; OKC Homeschool, Edmond, Okla.; Hidden Valley Homeschool, Choctaw, Okla.;  and C.O.A.C.H., of Norman, Okla.

• River Valley BEST of Fort Smith: Metro Homeschool of Blue Springs, Mo.; Mulberry/Pleasant View High School, Mulberry; Western Arkansas Technical Center, Fort Smith; and Chaffin Junior High School, Fort Smith.

• Rocky Mountain BEST of Denver, Colo.: Ridge View Academy of Watkins City, Colo.; and East High School of Denver, Colo.