WalshBots VEX World Championships

I am the advisor to Walsh Middle School Robotics Club, known as the WalshBots.  I have the privilege of being surrounded by very talented middle school students who are developing critical thinking, engineering, leadership, and teamwork skills by participating in VEX Robotics Competitions in the region.  We have six active competition teams and this year two teams, 9791C Revolution and 9791E Español, have qualified for VEX World Championships in Louisville, KY April 20-24.
WalshBots - Walsh Robotics Club

Getting 11 students and two staff members to this prestigeous event where over 800 teams from 33 countries will be competiting requires more financial resources than we have available to us.  These students meet three times a week for two hours a week all year long.  The results have been outstanding, with the teams earning 15 judged and performance awards at six regional competitions, including the most coveted Excellence Award at the Southern New England Middle School Regional Championships.
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9791E - Español is developing its language skills as well. The team is part of Walsh Middle School's Two Way Spanish program in which student take classes in both English and Spanish.  The team is taking this bilingual approach to their engineering process by documenting their robot in both Spanish and English.  The team is very excited to be able to meet teams from around the globe and interact with many in Spanish.

The teams are highly motivated and inventive.  In this year's challenge, Nothing But Net, teams are creating robots capable of shooting balls across a field, picking up objects off the field and lifting robots at the end of the match.  WalshBot 9791C was the only middle school team in the Southern New England region to accomplish this feat reliably!

9791C robot lifting another robot in competition.

The funds we raise will go to defray costs of participating at the event. Including:
- Registration fees for two teams $1,700
- Lodging for 11 students and 2 staff $3,800
- Transportation estimated at $2,600
and other miscellaneous equipment expenses, such as shipping cases for the robots, relating to the trip.

You can donations directly to the club's effort without incurring fees (gofundme.com 5% + 3% credit card processing), and potentially a tax deduction opportunity, by sending checks written to Walsh PTO and "Robotics" in the memo to:

Walsh Middle School
attn: Pascal Chesnais
301 Brook Street
Framingham, MA, 01701

We have a recognition levels for donations made to this effort.  We are apprecitative for any support our club's endeavor to get both of our teams to VEX World Championships!