Vancouver iTech Preparatory teams honored at robotics competition

FAIRGROUNDS — Two teams from Vancouver’s iTech Preparatory Academy recently returned with trophies from the VEX Robotics Competition World Championship in Dallas.

Team 4591V, the Vikings, earned the Judges’ Award. Members are sixth-graders Samuel Barnes, Eli Deets and Antone Jamiel.

Team 3249U, A.L.U., received the Sportsmanship Award. The team of high school juniors and seniors includes Jonah Campbell, Raymond Gwilliam, Clark Hegewald, Grant Myers and Lucas Rogers.

Thousands of teams from more than 40 countries showcased their technical, teamwork and critical thinking skills at the Dallas competition as they put their creations through a series of challenging tasks.

In October, iTech’s young engineers began working after school to create robots that can operate remotely and even autonomously. Under the guidance of teacher and coach Cyndy Hagin, the students designed, engineered and tested robots that can quickly stack rings and buckets on a platform.