Bringing Engineering to Students Via Vex IQ Robots

Hello world! I'm Mrs. Cash and I am the technology teacher and Vex IQ coach for C.C. Griffin STEM Middle School.

Our students have recently participated in Vex IQ robotics competitions and it has really energized us and motivated my students to want to learn more about robotics and improve their engineering skills.

Right now we can support about 20 students in our robotics club. I would like to grow our club so that we can support at least 40 if not 50 students this next school year. To do that, I will need to buy at least 5 kits, which will cost $679 each before tax. Add on additional supplies (competition boards and wooden boards to help support them, competition field kits, gears, drive shafts, counter weights, motors, counter weights) replacement/backup batteries, materials to store and organize our supplies, and our group is looking at roughly needing $7,000.

With Vex IQ students will have the opportunity to explore engineering concepts, critical thinking skills, collaboration, creativity, communication, and develop and strengthen positive character traits. Students will be faced with modern day STEM problems to design, build, and test solutions. Working together as a team, they will apply the engineering design cycle to building their robots and towards competition goals.

Fundraising would also help me in reducing the cost of a club fee for competitions if kids want to compete. Registering teams is $200 for the first team, $150 for teams 2 - 6, teams 7 and after are free. Competitions are $75 per team to compete, those costs add up quickly ($1,800). Luckily we were able to have it covered this school year, but we may not always be able to have it covered, which is another reason why we need to fundraise for our group.

Your donation will go a long way in helping us reach our goals for fundraising and getting the materials we need to have more students participating in robotics.