Kansas City area homeschoolers win BEST robotics competition

story submitted by the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith

Hard work and dedication have paid off for Metro Homeschool of Blue Springs, Mo., winners of the 2009 Frontier Trails BEST Regional Robotics Competition, which took place Dec. 5 at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith.

(Link here to coverage and photos of some of the Saturday activities.)

In addition to claiming first place in the BEST Competition, the team also placed fourth in the Robot Competition. This is the highest award ever received by this team, made up of home school students from throughout the Kansas City metro area. After not placing first in any of the other award categories, Metro Coach Sharon Mehl was left nearly speechless after the awards were announced.

“I am totally amazed,” she said. “I am so proud of these kids. They worked really, really hard.”

Mehl added that the students, some of whom travel more than an hour and a half for practices, have been putting in 13 hours a week since the Sept. 19 kick-off event to achieve this goal.

John Martini, assistant professor at UAFS and director of the competition, said the level of difficulty presented by this year’s challenge benefited each of the 40 teams in attendance.

“All of these teams that participated are winners in my estimation,” he said. “The ones that rose to the top are just a great example of what our young people in the United States are capable of accomplishing with good preparation, creativity and dedication to the task. I am very proud of their efforts and applaud their accomplishments.

The top award given is the BEST Award, which is presented to the team that most embodies the concept of BEST (Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology). Taking second in the BEST Competition for the second year in a row was Circle High School of Towanda, Kan. Third place went to defending champion Wichita Homeschool of Wichita, Kan.
 
In the Robot Competition, Wichita Homeschool was crowned champion for the second year running. Third place went to Conway (Mo.) High School. All four teams that placed in the BEST Competition and the Robot Competition now have the opportunity to continue to the first-ever national competition, to be held April 23-24 in Dallas.

Additional winners were:
Web Page Design: First place, West Fargo (N.D.) STEM Middle School; second place, Wichita Homeschool; and third place, Heartland Home Educators of Warrensburg, Mo.

T-Shirt Design: First place, Climax-Shelly School of Climax, Minn.; second place, Heartland Home Educators; and third place, Lawton Academy of Arts and Sciences of Lawton, Okla.

Most Photogenic Machine: First place, Shattuck (Okla.) High School; second place,  Buffalo Island Central of Leachville; and third place, Circle High School.

Most Elegant Machine: First place, Wichita Homeschool; second place, Conway High School; and third place, Breckenridge (Minn.) High School.

Most Robust Machine: First place, Wichita Homeschool; second place, Metro Homeschool; and third place, Shattuck High School.

Founders Award: First place, Conway High School; second place, Circle High School; and third place, Tulsa (Okla.) Engineering Academy at Memorial.

igus Top Gun Award: Ambassadors for Christ Academy of Bentonville.

Most Spirit and Sportsmanship: OKC Homeschool of Edmond, Okla.

Best Display and Interview: J.D. Leftwich High School of Magazine.

Best Oral Presentation: Heartland Home Educators.

Best Project Notebook: Wichita Homeschool.
 
BEST Robotics competitions are held nationwide. The theme for this year’s competition was “High Octane.” Each team designed, manufactured and operated its remote-controlled machine to perform a specific task based on criteria for the game.
 
The BEST concept began in Texas in the mid-1990s. UAFS has sponsored the River Valley BEST competition since 2003 and the next level, the Frontier Trails BEST competition, since 2005.
 
The event took place at UAFS and the Fort Smith Convention center. The competition is co-sponsored by ABF U-Pack Business Development, Academy Sports, Alibre Design, Baldor Electric Co., Butler & Cook Inc., Central Mall-Fort Smith, Champion Cycling, Charlotte Pipe and Foundry, Control Technologies Inc., Custom Awards and Engraving, Davis Iron and Metal Inc., Fort Smith Athletic Club, igus Inc., J&B Supply Co., Lowe’s of Fort Smith, Lumber One, Peterson Chemicals Inc., PPG Architectural Finishes Inc., Robot Magazine, Shamrock Bolt & Screw Co., Servo Magazine, SolidWorks Corp., Spray Rite Inc., Weldon, Williams & Lick Inc., Whirlpool Corp., and Williams/Crawford & Associates.