“Each year I think I couldn’t be more proud of the students or we couldn’t have accomplished more as a team, and every year the team has proved me wrong. At the end of the day, the high rankings and awards don’t even begin to tell the story of how hard the students have worked, how much they have learned, and how far our team has come. From technical skills to leadership, writing and presentation expertise, our team has grown and improved at an astronomical rate. It has been a great blessing to have such a successful season, not just in terms of competition performance, but in every aspect.” – Stephanie Morrison, Apex Robotics Coach.
From April 18-21, Apex Robotics Team 5803 will compete at the FIRST World Championship Event in Houston, “the only sport where every kid can go pro.”
Apex Robotics is a special place where students enhance their skills in innovation, ingenuity, and collaboration while they compete against other schools in the region and fuel their passion for STEM-related fields. Since their start, Apex has won many accolades in the FIRST Robotics League including the Regional Rookie of the Year Award, the Finalist Award, the Imagery Award, and two-time winners of the Excellence in Engineering Award.
These honors celebrate all that makes Apex distinctive such as outstanding visual aesthetic integration, the team as a culture, and the ability to describe aspects of an advantageous machine feature including its manufacturing and success in competition. Due to their success at numerous district competitions – including earning the title of Alliance Captain at the PNW District Championship Event – the team placed 12th out of 154 teams and are advancing to the World Championships for the third season in a row, competing against 400 of the top global teams.
Their triumph is because of the unwavering diligence of the high school students and the dedication of the talented coaches and parent community.
Photo credit: Ben VanHouton