Season ends for VWHS Robotics Club

VW independent staff/submitted information

The Van Wert High School Robotics season wrapped up this past weekend in Cleveland where VW Cougar Robotics competed in the Buckeye regional competition against 52 teams from seven states.

In September, the robotics members were split into three smaller teams in designing and building robots for the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) Competitions. The awards this year included: Ohio State Championship Advancement; Inspire Award, third place (Van Wert); Finalist Alliance, second team selected (Van Wert); Design Award (Van Wert); Promote Award first place (Wapakoneta), and the Motivate Award, third place (Wapakoneta).

In January, the teams came together as one team to design and build a robot for the large robot division FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC). After three months of daily progress and staying true to this year’s motto of “everything is a draft” mentality, the team competed in the Buckeye Regional.

The team was in the running for the highest award, the Impact Award. The FIRST Impact Award is the most prestigious award at FIRST, it honors the team that best represents a model for other teams to emulate and best embodies the mission of FIRST.

“I could not be more proud of our team, especially the leadership the seniors displayed this year,” coach Bob Spath said. “Abbie Mengerink, Aubrey Mandeville , Dierks Knoch, Kention McComas, Stephen Bowers, Jeff Li, and Clayton Mosier designed and built the best robot we have ever had in the 12 years of robotics. There will be significant holes to fill next year.”

The robotics team is thankful for generous donations, sponsorship, and support of the following: Central Insurance, Van Wert County Foundation, Alliance Automation, Gene Haas Foundation, Van Wert Federal, 1st Federal of Van Wert, VANCREST, Tenneco, Ohio Northern University, Walmart, Citizens National Bank, Agrauxine, Kenn-Feld Group, StateWide, Vantage Career Center, and Van Wert City Schools.

To learn more about the Van Wert Robotics club click here or contact coaches Bob Spath, Noah Carter, or Marty Hohman.