Lead / Create / Contribute
235 Hope Road, Tinton Falls, NJ 07724  /  732.542.4777

More Stories

List of 10 news stories.

Robotics Students Compete among Best of the Best at U.S. CREATE Championship

Lower & Middle Schoolers compete at national level for first time; Upper Schoolers earn top rank in driving skills. Next up is the 2016 VEX World Championship.
Ranney Robotics students spent April 7-9 at Iowa’s Mid-America Center to compete in the 2016 CREATE U.S. Open Robotics Championship. The Class of 2015’s Raymond Moser and Ranney teammates won the 2014 CREATE U.S. Tournament and won the programming skills event in 2015. 

At this year’s national event, Ranney students competed among 300-plus robots, led by individuals and teams who qualified to attend by winning local competitions throughout the 2015-16 robotics season. “Many of these teams were the ‘best of the best,’” said Ranney Robotics Advisor Chiara Shah. Our eight teams represented seven robots and all three Ranney divisions (Lower, Middle & Upper).
 
Participating students included: Upper School - Ben Iglesia, Jack DeNicola, JD Mullally, Chip Johnson, Will Zheng, Mike Zheng, Dana Schioppo, Grace Economou, Thomas Bruno, Brandon Gioggia, Vasilios Nicholas, Dean Parker and Chris Glenn; Lower & Middle School - Anthony Virone, Christian Virone, Maria Guiliano, James Glover,  Tomas Mora and Pierce Kane.
 
This was Ranney’s first year competing in the VEX IQ national division, for Lower and Middle School students. “The students, while unsure what to expect, were enthusiastic and a joy to watch while competing,” says Shah. The 30 competing robots were teamed up in pairs of two going into the finals. Team 3815N (Tomas Mora and Pierce Kane) finished 15th in finals.  Team 3815D (Anthony Virone, Winston Blank and James Glover) finished 10th, despite an initial failed inspection. The team impressed the entire audience by quickly re-designing one part of their robot in order to pass inspection a second time. “A 10th place finish with these struggles was impressive,” added Shah.
 
Team 3815K (Christian Virone and Maria Guilliano) finished 7th out of the 15, competing with one of the smallest robots on the field. With a solid strategy, they earned at least 26 points in every match before their robot slipped on the ramp in the last match.
 
In the VRC High School Division, Team 3815A (Chip Johnson, Chris Glenn, and Ben Iglesia) had to deal with some mechanical difficulties with their robot during competition. They finished 81st out of 85 in the Green Division. In order to qualify for nationals, this team won a competition in Cape May in JanuarY 2016.
 
Team 3815J (Will Zheng, Dana Schioppo, Jack DeNicola and Mike Zheng) also struggled with some mechanical difficulties, finishing 62nd out of 85 teams. However, their robot improved as the competition progressed, and a higher ranked team took note of them and picked them as an alliance partner for the final rounds. In the finals, this team won in the first round and then lost in quarterfinals. These students now have experience competing at this national level and already have ideas for improving their robot before heading off to the 2016 VEX World Championship taking place in Louisville, Kentucky April 20-23.
 
In the VRC Open Division, Team C2460A (Vasilios Nicholas, Dean Parker, Will Zheng, Ben Iglesia and Mike Zheng) advanced to finish 24th out of 37 teams, despite technical difficulties. This team is now ranked 7th in the nation in robot driving skills.
 
Team C2460B (Brandon Gioggia, JD Mullally, Grace Economou and Thomas Bruno) finished 28th out of 37th and was picked for final team alliances. They lost in the semifinals.
 
Stay tuned for world championship results later this month.
 
Back

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.