Teams of Robot-Building Students Put STEM Skills to the Test at the Dream It Do It Southern MN VEX Robotics Tournament

Riverland Community College hosts approximately 100 leading middle and high school VEX Robotics students and mentors from Minnesota and Iowa at Albert Lea High School on Dec. 14 for the Dream It Do It Southern Minnesota VEX Robotics Tournament.

The action-packed tournament features teams competing with and against other schools in a series of back-to-back robot challenges. Participants will compete for the championship title by strategically executing the game Toss Up, driving robots they designed, built and programmed from the ground up using the VEX Robotics Design System.

The public is invited to attend the tournament. The opening ceremony starts at 10 a.m. with qualification rounds beginning at 10:15 a.m. There is no cost to watch the tournament. There will also be tournament updates through Dream It Do It’s social media.

“This event gives students an engaging, hands-on learning experience to build their skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and learn about STEM careers, like manufacturing,” says Peggy Young, a business consultant in training and development at Riverland. “This is a great opportunity for our college’s manufacturing faculty help students learn about educational and career opportunities.”

VEX Robotics is the world’s fastest growing competitive robotics program for middle schools, high schools and colleges around the world, with more than 5,000 teams from 30 countries that participate in more than 350 VEX Robotics Competition events worldwide. The competition season culminates each spring with the VEX Robotics World Championship event, uniting top qualifying teams from local, state and international VEX Robotics Competitions. The Excellence Award Winner at this tournament will qualify to attend the World Championship.

The VEX Robotics Competition is managed by the Robotics Education & Competition Foundation and serves as a vehicle for students to develop critical life skills such as teamwork, leadership and project management, honed through building robots and competing with like-minded students from the community in a pulse-pounding, exciting, non-traditional environment. The VEX Robotics Design System was built from the ground up and designed to be an affordable, accessible and scalable platform used to teach science, technology, engineering and math education worldwide.

To learn more about Dream It Do It in Minnesota, visit www.dreamitdoitmn.com. More information about the VEX Robotics Competition is available at www.roboticseducation.org or at www.RobotEvents.com.

About Dream It Do It Minnesota

Dream It Do It, led by 360° Manufacturing and Applied Engineering ATE Regional Center of Excellence, collaborates with industry members to promote careers in manufacturing in Minnesota. To learn more about this program, visit dreamitdoitmn.com or contact Jessica Gehrke at 218-755-2209 or jgehrke@bemidjistate.edu.

About 360-degrees

360-degrees Manufacturing and Applied Engineering ATE Regional Center of Excellence is a consortium of 13 institutions led by Bemidji State University and includes Riverland Community College and eleven other technical and community colleges. 360-degrees is designing a 21^st century education system that prepares individuals to have rewarding careers in manufacturing and meets the dynamic, evolving needs of the region’s manufacturing employers through an enhanced pipeline, industry-driven curriculum, and authentic assessment. 360-degrees is a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system and received a National Science Foundation grant in 2012 to become an Advanced Technological Education Regional Center.

About Riverland Community College

Riverland Community College, a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, is a regional comprehensive community college inspiring learning for living through a personalized educational environment. Approximately 4,900 students are served annually through a wide range of credit-based educational opportunities. An additional 5,400 students are annually served in non-credit courses. Campuses are located in Albert Lea, Austin, and Owatonna. Riverland may be found on the Internet at www.riverland.edu.

About the REC Foundation

The Robotics Education & Competition Foundation, a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization, supports robotics and technology events and programs that aim to inspire and motivate students to advance in STEM education. In addition to operating and supporting competitions for some of the world’s leading robotics platforms and organizations including VEX, TSA and BEST Robotics Competitions, the foundation also provides program support and workshops focused on technology and professional development for educators – including the RobotEvents.com community portal website which helps promote multiple high quality programs and provides online registration and event pages for hundreds of events around the world.