Three robotics teams from the Kilby Laboratory School will be competing in the VEX Robotics World Championship on April 29 through May 4 in Dallas. This is the second year in a row that the elementary school will be representing the state in largest robotics completion on a world stage.
Six teams, ranging from grades four through six recently qualified to compete at the Alabama State Regional VEX IQ Championship that took place at Auburn University. Teams from Kilby won the competition and three teams from the school were invited to compete at the upcoming 2024 VEX Robotics World, where they will compete against 400 teams from around the globe.
“It’s just been amazing. We started out with about maybe between 15 to 20 kids interested in learning how to build robots, [learning how to] drive them [and] code them. Every year, it's just gotten bigger and bigger,” said Dr. Eric Kirkman, Director of the Kilby Laboratory School.
Misty Buerhaus, the robotics coach at Kilby, and her team are actively preparing for the upcoming championship in Dallas through fundraising and practice sessions.
“We have a campaign right now where students were given a calendar where they logged their practice time, and they asked individuals to do some sponsorships,” said Kirkman.
In addition to the sponsorship campaign, the Kilby robotics teams will be fundraising at the Sam’s Club in Florence on April 13 and 14.
“We just want to give everybody an opportunity to help us out, because we are representing the Shoals area, we're representing Florence, we're representing North Alabama, but more importantly, we're actually representing the entire state of Alabama,” said Kirkman.
The VEX Robotics World Championship will be held on April 29 through May 4 at the Kay Baily Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas.
More information on the Kilby Laboratory School robotics program can be found here.
