Galen has now truly established itself as the home for VEX Robotics in the North East with a team qualifying for the World Championships after the Australian National VEX Robotics Championships held on Saturday 2nd December. Galen’s VEX Event organisers, Maree Timms, Bernadette Albertson and Brett Webber are beyond excited with all Galen teams winning awards.
“Our Middle Team won an excellence award and excelled in all areas of the competition, including their interview with the Judges, Engineering Log Book, driving skills both autonomous and driver skills plus points won in matches,” explained Maree Timms. “This means that the group, led by Lachlan Carboon have qualified to compete in Louisville, Kentucky (USA) next year during April 25 to 28!”
The Junior Team of Ryan Falconer and Mitchell Hobbs were Tournament Champions, winning the overall competition with their alliance partners from Hillcrest College and the Robotics Boomerangs (a robotics club in Melbourne).
Galen’s Senior Team, captained by Madalynn Baumanis, won the Design Award, for the best overall Engineering Log Book.
“This is such a student led competition. I hadn’t even seen the students log books, I simply gave them the rubric and it was their hard work and determination that saw them achieve.” Maree Timms explained. “Having a team make it to the World Championships is massive – it’s like the Olympics for STEM, robotics and coding. The team will be proudly representing Galen and ultimately Australia (along with two other Aussie qualifying teams).
“The addition of Brett Webber to the Galen staff has meant the Galen teams have had that extra few coding tips to help them get to the next level.”
In addition to Galen students receiving awards, teacher Maree Timms wasn’t forgotten about, proudly receiving a “Volunteer of the Year Award” for all of her work leading Galen students, giving them the opportunity to achieve and establishing VEX as a serious competition in North East Victoria.
A massive congratulations to all of Galen’s VEX students. Your weeks of preparation (since the start of the year), lunchtimes, weekends, holidays spent building, planning, strategizing and coding have clearly paid off. We’ll no doubt be hearing more about VEX as the group prepares for the World Championships in Louisville, Kentucky, USA!