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IPA Robotics Team Wins at the Hawaiʻi State VEX IQ Championship

Robots were up and running on President’s Day as ISLAND PACIFIC ACADEMY’s three VEX IQ Navigator Robotics teams competed in the 2017 aio HCES State VEX IQ Championship. There were 40 middle school and 42 elementary school teams from all over the state that came to the Hawaiʻi Convention Center to compete, with 24 teams qualifying for the 2017 VEX World Championship in Louisville, Kentucky.

The nearly eight-hour tournament was charged with energy, as four teams would simultaneously drive in minute-long matches split into two divisions.

Team members prepare their robot for competition.
Taylor Horita (ʻ22), Zaheer Gulko (ʻ22), and Nathan Okimoto (ʻ22) prepare their robot before competition.
Students drive robot in competition.
Noah (ʻ24) and Jordan (ʻ24) take turns ,working together as a team, to drive their robot.

Among other competitive robotics platforms, VEX IQ is known for promoting teamwork and collaboration skills, which are especially important for young children as they mature into young adults.

IPA middle school student, Sebastian Banquil (‘23) said, “It’s exciting to be here because we get to work with teams outside of our school and make new friends.”

Navigator teammates compete against each other.
Joshua Kuakini (ʻ22) cheers on teammate Sebastian Banquil (ʻ23) as they compete with fellow Navigators Taylor Horita (ʻ22) and Nathan Okimoto (ʻ22).

Robotics programs are an essential complement to STEM curriculum in schools as they promote and inspire students from a young age to further their education in the burgeoning technical fields of tomorrow. VEX IQ provides an engaging setting for students to develop real-world technical abilities in a competitive context, while promoting teamwork, communication, and time management skills.

“As we move further into the technology age, the importance of programing and computer science in the workforce is growing at an unprecedented rate, so for our school to support students who take an interest in programing is something very special,” says Navigator Program Director, Robyn Cabuslay (’14). “Now, more than ever, I feel it is my responsibility to pass down my passion to the next generation.”

Indeed, that is a main objective of ISLAND PACIFIC ACADEMY’s robotics program. At the tournament, one IPA parent commented, “It’s great to see how the students interact together as a team and led by an alum of IPA sharing his passion for robotics and his community.”

However, robotics isn’t just programming and teamwork, Navigator Robotics also involves the engineering design cycle and other scientific processes.

VEX IQ teams create STEM projects—a research-based precursor to science fair—as part of the competition. Middle school students from IPA explored cybernetics and renewable energy from perpetual motion machines, while the elementary school team met with professional dentists to learn about how 3D scanning and printing is used to create false teeth.

Navigators present their STEM project to the judges.
Zaheer Gulko (ʻ22) and Nathan Okimoto (ʻ22) present to the judges their team STEM project on renewable energy from perpetual motion.

“Doing the STEM project teaches you about prioritizing your research and organizing information, as well as being a more effective presenter,” explained team member Ryan Corpuz (’22).

At the tournament, Navigator Robotics emerged victorious: Team 4442A – with students Nathan Okimoto (’22), Taylor Horita (’22), Zaheer Gulko (’22), and Emma-Rose Layaoen (’22) – won the Teamwork Champion Award, qualifying them for the 2017 VEX World Championship. The same team also went on to win the Build Award.

Students receive Teamwork Champion Award.
The Navigator Robotics team won the Teamwork Champion Award.

Our elementary school team, Team 4422A –with students Chase (’24), Jordan (’24), Maya (’24), Noah (’24), and Dylan (’24)—also received the sportsmanship award.

Thank you to all Navigator Robotics families for your support throughout this VEX IQ season and good luck to our team as they prepare for the World Championships.