Pride Academy Robotics Teams presented at the 2011 NY/NJ RoboCupJunior Regional competition in Orange on April 10th and earned our congratulations for their hard work, leadership, and determination.
All of our participants demonstrated initiative, courage, and cooperation as they interviewed with judges and presented their Robot Dance Performances.
Two of our teams won awards. The Dance Demons, mentored by Mrs Torres, won in the category for Best Choreography. Their performance displayed a high level of coordination between multiple robots that they had programmed to dance in unison to the rhythm of music edited and arranged by the students.
The Star Power team, mentored by Ms Becker, won in the Best Teamwork category for their robot dance exhibition that included student dance performances and a sound track with live guitar accompaniment.
RoboCupJunior is an international robotics program that is focused on technology education for elementary, middle and high school students. The competition in Orange included teams from New York, New Jersey, and Canada.
Our robotics program was offered as an after school program at Pride this year and was supported through a grant from The Community Foundation of New Jersey. Teachers at Pride worked with Dr. Amy Eguchi, assistant professor of education at Bloomfield College to create a program that encouraged students to pursue studies in math, science, technology, and engineering in college.
We are grateful to Mrs Torres, Ms Becker and Mr Torres for their determination, leadership, teaching, patience, encouragement, and support of our students throughout the entire Robotics program. We are also grateful for the support of the many parents who attended the competition.
