Competition gathers dozens of area youth | News, Sports, Jobs

ABOVE: Martin County West students Gracin Hansen and Austin Taylor, of the VEX IQ Challenge Team, “The Penguins,” operate their robot, playing a mix and match game on a 6 x 8 field and scoring points by stacking pins and placing them in corresponding color score zones, during the annual Martin County Know How competition event on Saturday at the Truman Public School gymnasium. Photo by Vanessa Schultze.

TRUMAN – At Truman Elementary Saturday, 60 fifth and sixth graders from Fairmont, Truman, Martin County West and Granada-Huntley-East Chain schools worked together across 27 teams in a Vex IQ robotics competition this past Saturday.

Teams worked in alliances of two to stack pins of the same color or mix and match colors to get as many points as possible in two minutes.

While the task is simple, Martin County Know How Board Member and Fairmont Robotics Coach Sam Viesselman said execution varies depending on experience.

“It’s a claw with an arm, and that’s where we recommend new students go,” he said. “Students who have been doing it for a couple years might opt to do something more advanced, since they built the claw bot before. Even after building the same basic bot, every single team ends up doing their own little version of innovation and ways of making their robots better and differentiated.”

The event was organized by Martin County Know How (MCKH), a subcommittee of Project 1590, which aims to encourage STEM exploration among all age groups in Martin County. It was first put on in 2019. After being cancelled in 2020 due to COVID, it was brought back in 2021 and has returned each year ever since.

“We actually ended up having so many students,” Viesselman said. “It initially was third through sixth grade in one tournament. We have to split it now. We do one tournament in the fall for fifth and sixth graders, and then a tournament in the spring for third and fourth graders.”

To ensure students know about this opportunity and can get involved, Viesselman said each school has either a teacher or staff member who works with robotics.

“We leave it up to each school to figure out how to best advertise in their school that it exists. I know at Fairmont, they do take home folders and post on one of the web forums they have for parents.”

As far as the setup, Viesselman said a lot of the practice is on the students themselves.

“They actually meet at their individual schools and practice building their robots,” he said. “Each school has a field that they can take home and practice the real game on.”

The event was open to the public, meaning parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, and all family friends, and community members had the chance to turn out and see what the fuss is about.

In the way this event and robotics as a whole have grown and spread, Viesselman said he feels a great sense of pride in it.

“How many people have come together to make it happen,” he said. “How cooperative the school districts have been, all the volunteers in our committee, all the volunteer coaches, it really takes a village to make it happen. When it all kind of culminates together at that event, looking at all the work that everyone else has put into it really gives you a sense of pride.”

With robotics and technology as a whole developing rapidly in the current age, Viesselman said he feels events like this are really important for future generations.

“We never say, ‘Wow, next year there’s going to be less technology than the year before,’” he said. “It’s a one-way door, so preparing the youth for that ever-changing world. We can see it in their literacy, fluency and technology. As the workforce demands higher and higher skills, more education, just trying to get ahead of that, but also present it in a way that’s fun.”

Fairmont team Hog Riders, consisting of Nolan Harris and Garrett Meier, and MCW team American’s Team of Titus Krusemark and Bronx Geiger finished first with 115 points.

Fairmont team Hot Rod of Tristan Lyons and Jack Fraser, and MCW team i AM Super of Adalie Grupe, Mejta Rohman and Sage Gwin took second with 88 points.

MCW team Lego Masters of William White and Shay Arnold, and Truman team The Fizzlers of Zach Wiens and Liam Werner, took third with 80 points.