Manatee County to send 13 Vex teams to world championship

Sofia Laubacker, a fifth grader at Gene Witt Elementary School, sometimes feels like a celebrity walking around campus. 

Laubacker and her teammates, fifth graders Eddy Thomas and Connor Willats, are competing in the Vex Robotics World Championships May 2-4 in Dallas. 

"You kind of feel famous because you're one of the first teams to do this," she said. "Mostly everybody knows who you are at school since you've (qualified for the world championships)."

All five of Gene Witt Elementary School's Vex teams, along with two teams from Robert E. Willis Elementary School and three teams from Gilbert W. McNeal Elementary School, will compete on the world stage. 

Last school year, the School District of Manatee County sent a team from Willis and another team from Virgil Mills Elementary School to worlds.

This school year, the district has 13 teams going to the world championship.

"It feels pretty special that we have the opportunity to go to worlds and we're able to build off the legacy of the other (Willis) team that went to worlds last year," said Aubrey Steward, a fifth grader at Willis Elementary. "I hope next year there are more teams going to worlds."

Photo by Liz Ramos

The teams are hard at work making final adjustments to their robots before heading to the world championship.

Nina Young, a Gene Witt Elementary fifth grader, said she's excited but nervous for the world championship because she's taking over as the driver of her team. She said there's immense pressure that comes with the role as she's responsible for getting the robot to score points for the team.

"It's just hectic because we're still making adjustments," Young said.

Students have been amazed to see how far their teams have come since they started working on their robots at the beginning of the school year. 

Okhan Ozturk, a McNeal Elementary fifth grader, said his team, Slap 'N' Slide, has seen tremendous improvement over the months as the team went from scoring 20 points to nearly 200. The team also became one of the best in the state of Florida. 

The X-Treme Geckos from Willis Elementary decided to build a new robot, even after finding out they qualified for the world championship. 

Photo by Liz Ramos

"It's amazing to see how this was all started by just a few pieces, some motors and some wheels," said Sophie Siegling, a Willis Elementary fifth grader on the X-Treme Geckos, while looking at her team's robot. 

Siegling and McNeal Elementary fifth grader Noble Pinto said working with their teams has been a bonding experience. They were able to make new friends at school through participating in Vex.

At the world championship, students are looking forward to seeing the various types of robots created by teams from around the world. They are excited to see what they did to their robots to complete tasks and challenges. 

They also can't wait to meet students from around the world. 

"It'll be interesting because people around the world work in different languages and have different experiences," said Nino Donadze, a fifth grader at Willis Elementary. "They might have completely different robots, so it'll be interesting to see how they communicate and build their robots."

As the fifth graders move onto middle school, a few of them had advice to share for students who will be representing their schools in future Vex competitions. 

"Ask for help, try to see different points of views and think about how much improvement you've seen in yourself and your team," Ozturk said. "Believe in yourself. If you think you can do it, stick with it."