After countless hours of engineering, programming, building robots, competing at regional level, and qualifying for VEX National Championships, an all-girl robotics team have achieved something truly remarkable: they won the prestigious 2024 VEX Innovation award and have secured a spot in the World VEX Robotics Championships in Dallas, Texas on 25th – 27th April.
Chloe-Leila, Georgina, and Emily have been an inspiration for students, teachers, and the school community over the past four years. The Dyson building, which opened in 2021, provided an ideal environment where they can design, code, tinker, and learn from their mistakes.
The year 12 pupils’ story is one of grit, teamwork, and a growth mindset in learning from every match, taking feedback, and implementing incremental positive changes to their robot and game strategy which have led them to this incredible opportunity to compete at the highest international level.
Physics teacher, and team coach Rob Hazelwood said “It has been an honour to observe the confidence grow in these three resourceful, resilient, and innovative female students who are an inspiration to all. They make everyone realise that anything is possible with hard work and determination”.
The team have spent hours in the Dyson Building during the Easter holidays to improve their robot even further with developments to their code and on their pneumatic ‘wings’.
Mr Hazelwood went on to say “They fully deserve their place at the World Championship, and I am sure that they will make themselves and the whole Gresham’s School community proud. I currently teach or have taught all three girls, and it is no coincidence that they all perform at a high academic level in STEAM subjects. The link from academic teaching to seeing it being applied in the ‘real world’ is a crucial one for me, and it develops those softer skills that all industries desire. I would like to thank everyone that has supported these girls throughout and especially their parents, who have tirelessly supported their daughters”.
Getting to Dallas for the finals was only made possible by the generous donations and sponsorships from businesses, parents and teachers. Two companies, Hut Forty Two and ADN Group are sponsoring this special group of determined STEAM students to follow their dreams. If you would like to support the girls on this inspiring journey, please go to: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/Frog44680D
Gresham’s Senior School has been running a VEX robotics activity for the past 4 years, and proves that determination and perseverance pays off:
Year 1 – 2022: Team Frog participated in the regional competitions but did not qualify.
Year 2 – 2023: Team Frog won their regional competition, qualified for the UK Nationals, but did not qualify for the World Championships. They received an ‘Energy award’ for their enthusiasm and for being excellent role models in the world of robotics.
Year 3 – 2024: The team won the regional competitions, qualified for the UK Nationals, and then qualified for the World Championships in Dallas which takes place this week. They received an ‘Innovate award’ for their design and engineering abilities for an element of their design (the Flywheel) and were also selected via an interview process to fly the flag for the UK in the opening parade
For more information on the competition, please see: https://recf.org/vex-robotics-world-championship
Categories: Gresham's School
