Greenville Christian School won top score at Lion’s Pride BEST (Boosting EngineeringScience and Technology) Game Day hosted by the A&M-Commerce Engineering and Technology Department on Saturday, Oct. 8. Twenty schools from the surrounding area participated in the free, open participation event.
According to Brent Donham, department head and associate professor for engineering and technology, the Engineering department hosts a summer camp every year to introduce high school students to engineering, robotics, and science. Last summer, they extended it to middle school as well. A&M – Commerce engineering students not only assist with the summer camp, but also with this robotics event.
"We see a critical need for students in STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) education, specifically engineering," Donham said. "We had 13 teams participate last year and 20 this year. I expect our numbers will probably grow again next year."
Tom Witt, robotics teacher and sponsor for the winning Greenville Christian School, said this is their first year with a robotics class and in competition. Witt has 13robotics students, out of about a 60 student high school population. Greenville Christian took the highest score in the first round (seeding) of the competition to advance to the semi finals.
"We feel a lot better now than when we were going into the seeding round, almost like we know what we are doing," Witt said. "Up to this point we weren't sure what we were doing before today, this is our first year doing the competition. It is a lot ofwork and we feel really good right now. The kids have been the pit crew and the figuring it out, and they have done a great job."
Greenville dominated every round, with five drivers rotating controlling the robot. Greenville Christian won the finals with a score of 313, followed by Quinlan-Ford High School with 216 points, and 177 by Boles High School.
"I was a little nervous but I tried to keep my composure," Colin McGee, the final driver for Greenville Christian, said. "Everyone did really great."