The AquaBots are no strangers to success: over the course of the current season, the all-girls robotics team from Oak Grove Upper Elementary School has won 12 awards and finished in second place in programming and drivers’ skills at the Mississippi State Robotics Championship.
Those accolades have earned the team – which is currently ranked 40th worldwide out of more than 3,000 teams – its third trip to the 2019 VEX IQ World Robotics Championship in Louisville, Kentucky, where last year the girls earned the World STEM Award.
“It makes me feel successful, because this year I’ve tried to step back from being so involved in the process,” said team coach Michelle Courtney, who teaches second and third grade EXCEL at Oak Grove Lower Elementary. “So it was nice to step back and see (the students) do that on their own and have the willpower to succeed without the adults so much in the spotlight.”
The AquaBots – which is made up of fifth-graders Mica Shemper, Madelyn Courtney and Elliot Walsh – are currently working on fundraising and sponsorships to get to the championship, which will be held at the end of April. There, the girls will compete in several areas against teams from 50 countries from around the world.
“They’ll be matched with an alliance partner from another country, so they’ll have to overcome the language barrier to communicate their game strategy,” Michelle Courtney said. “They’ll also be facing some judges asking them some questions about their computer programming knowledge and how they built their basic robot designs.”
During the event, officials will unveil the new Game of the Year, which the teams will compete for next year, before concluding with a team rally at a local amusement park. The girls also will get to visit Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby Museum, an American Thoroughbred horse racing museum dedicated to preserving the history of the Kentucky Derby.
“I love that robotics is an amazing way to collaborate with many new kids,” Shemper said. “I feel like everybody is important in robotics.
“I definitely know that being a part of a girl power team feels amazing. I’m very grateful to compete in Kentucky for the world competition with not only my team, but my best friends.”
This season, the AquaBots have worked closely with the Institute of Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport, helping to create toys made of recycled robotics toys for rehabilitated dolphins. The team also has been featured on the REC Foundation’s world-wide brochure, a publication that is passed out to different STEM and technology events around the world.
“I love working with my friends in robotics,” Walsh said. “With girl power, we can do anything the boys can do, and usually better.
“We love helping other girls learn about fixing their robot and programming it. We are the wave of the future.”
