Clear Creek ISD students win awards at world, regional robotics competitions

Of the 13 student teams from across Clear Creek ISD that competed at this year's 2021 VEX Worlds Live-Remote Championship in late May, several earned distinctions and awards.

The multiday tournament, with the Guinness World Records recognition as the largest online robot championships, included the VEX Robotics Competition and VEX IQ Challenge events. This year’s world championship was held virtually using newly developed streaming platforms that meant students were competing with over 1,600 other teams from 30 countries and 49 states.

Team 1116M Rock-It-Bots, three third-grade girls from North Pointe Elementary School, took home the highest honor, the excellence award in the IQ challenge elementary science division. According to a June 28 news release from their coach Sonia Ahsan, the team is the first in Texas to ever win this award. The team was also named a VEX IQ challenge teamwork champion in the science B division. After winning last year’s state championship, the Rock-It-Bots had qualified for the 2020 VEX IQ Robotics World tournament, but the competition was then canceled due to the pandemic, according to the news release.

From Westbrook Intermediate School, team 7421C Flaming Phoenix was recognized as a 2021 tournament subdivision finalist and winner of the middle school technology division design award. This is the second-highest award of the competition.

The team 1116X Rock-It-Bots Xtreme, a team of two sixth-graders also from Westbrook Intermediate, earned the third highest honor of the competition, an innovate award in the IQ middle school science division.

“We are proud of the dedication and hard work of these students and their sponsors to overcome the obstacles this year and come out on top to represent the district at the highest level of competition,” said James Jobe, the district’s robotics and engineering program manager, in a district press release.

Regionally, CCISD teams also earned various awards at the June 4-5 Space City Showcase. Flaming Phoenix won the excellence award in the middle school division, while Team 3118B Astrobots from Clear Brook High School likewise won the excellence award for their division. Westbrook Intermediate’s Team 7421A Cyberbot took home an innovation award.

The showcase took place at the Learner Support Center in Clear Lake. According to Jobe, CCISD is currently the only district to have such a space specifically allocated for robotics events.

“We feel very fortunate to provide this space to our students and teams throughout the region,” Jobe said in the district press release.