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Fall Robotics Kicks Off with State Competitions

Thirty-two Middle and Upper School students – the highest number to attend a robotics event in the club’s history - kicked off the 2014-2015 New Jersey VEX Robotics season.
On November 8, the Ranney Middle and Upper School Robotics Clubs traveled to North Brunswick High School for the 2014-2015 Kick-Off event of the New Jersey VEX Robotics season. Thirty-two Ranney students – the highest number to attend a robotics event in the club’s history – were accompanied by Robotics Club Advisor Chiara Shah, Middle School Dean of Students David Ketcham, Engineering Mentor and Ranney parent Ray Moser (Raymond '15), and parent chaperone Lori Johnson (Chip '18).

Students in grades 8-12 brought 11 VEX robots to North Brunswick to participate in a scrimmage, workshop and skills challenges during this season-opening event. Students were able to see the progress of other robots from other teams in the state, learn about the rules of the upcoming season, test drive their robot on a field, and spend time building, fixing and programming their robots. “This event was a teaser for the real season,” says Mrs. Shah, “which begins on Sunday, November 23 at Rowan University. After months of building, students are madly finalizing their designs and excited to attend their first competition.”

In addition to the scrimmage for the older students, North Brunswick hosted a VEX IQ competition for elementary and middle school students, aged 8-14. VEX IQ is a robotics system similar to the LEGO® MINDSTORMS® system. This year’s competition challenge is to move 3-inch cubes from one side to the other of a 4 x 8 foot field; as a bonus, cubes that are stacked in towers earn additional points.

While Ranney has been competing in VEX Robotics competitions for several years, the school has never competed in VEX IQ Competitions. Ranney sixth- and seventh-grade Middle Schoolers brought five robots to the competition, which they had begun building just 4 weeks prior. “I am proud of these students for all their hard work,” says Mrs. Shah. “To get ready for this event, they have been staying after school several days per week.”

VEX IQ robots are typically driven by teams of two students. When a few students couldn’t make the competition at the last minute, three eighth-graders – Alex Klatsky, Ananya Pandey and Rohan Sharma – graciously stepped in as replacements. When he learned that a team from another school was missing a driver, Sathya Edamadaka '19 volunteered to step in for the day as a replacement as well. Helping other schools and other teams is a core value that the event sponsor – the Robotics Education & Competition Foundation (REC) – hopes to foster with these competitions.

Says Mr. Ketcham, “I was very impressed by the collaboration and partnership on display between Ranney students from different divisions and grades as well as between participating schools. Older and younger students of all combinations were exchanging ideas, sharing advice, providing assistance, supporting each other and enjoying each other’s company.”

In VEX IQ Competitions, the top 10 teams after the qualifying rounds move on to compete in a final round. Several Ranney robots finished just out of the top ranking. “It was so exciting to come so close to the finals at our very first VEX IQ competition ever. Our goal for our next competition,” says Mrs. Shah, “is to have at least one team competing in the final round. I know with some small design tweaks they will be strong competitors at the next competition.”

The next VEX IQ competition in New Jersey is on November 22 at South Orange Middle School. Ranney School will be hosting an event on December 6 and January 17 as well.

Ranney VEX IQ Middle School Robotics Teams
Team A: James Glover '21 and Zachary Stott '21 (not present, replaced by Ananya Pandey '19)
Team B: Shrish Vaidyaselvan '20 and Jatin Nayyar '20
Team C: Nicholas Sakson '20 and Trey Dodge '20 (not present, replaced by Alex Klatsky '19)
Team D: Victoria Tager-Geffner '20 and Rohan Sikand ' (not present, replaced by Rohan Sharma '19)
Team E: Justin Rinaldo '20 and Jonathan Tager-Geffner '21

Click here to read the "Robotics Program in High Gear for Start of School-Year" article.


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Ranney School

235 Hope Road
Tinton Falls, NJ 07724
Tel. 732.542.4777
Our mission is to know and value every child, nurturing intellectual curiosity and confidence, and inspiring students to lead honorably, think creatively, and contribute meaningfully to society. 

We envision Ranney School as a nurturing learning community, in which families, faculty, alumni, and all of Ranney’s constituents collaborate to know and value every child, foster individual talents, sustain powerful connections between children and adults, and graduate resilient, globally-minded citizens.