APS robotics teams experienced a great 2016 competition season!
Career, Technical and Agricultural Education (CTAE) teams from Douglass, Grady, Jackson and Mays high schools recently competed in the Technology Student Association (TSA) regional VEX competitions. In addition, Carver, Grady, Jackson, North Atlanta, and Washington participated in the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition (FRC), an international high school robotics competition.
The Maynard H. Jackson High School “Jaguar Engineers” played 12 qualifying rounds at the District Qualifier in Albany, Georgia, and won the final match 122-94. Their qualifying performance gained the team an automatic bid to the district championships. In addition to the District Qualifier, the Henry W. Grady “G3 Robotics” FRC team competed in the Peachtree District Championship and the FIRST World Championship. This is the second year in a row the Grady FRC team qualified for the world championship event.
“We are not only proud of our performance, but we are proud of the other APS teams we mentor” said Andrew Nichols, a teacher at Grady High School.
The Washington FRC Robotics team competed for the first time and ranked high enough to compete in the elimination tournament at the Columbus Qualifier. Repeating this accomplishment in Albany demonstrates that they are one of the strongest rookie teams in the state. Their performance also earned them an invitation for the Peachtree District Championship.
Atlanta Public Schools students compete in FIRST Robotics and VEX Robotics. Each year, teams of students and mentors work during a six-week period to build game-playing robots that weigh up to 120 pounds. The VEX robotics competition has similar elements using smaller robots.
Funding for the robotics teams was provided by the district’s CTAE unit, a grant from Lockheed Martin, and school-based fundraising.
“We consider robotics competition an important part of our engineering program curriculum” said Dr. Michael Maze, director of CTAE.
The mission of CTAE is to prepare students for the 21st century global workplace by providing a sequence of rigorous career-related courses. CTAE also provides real-world experiences that build technical skills and workplace knowledge while exposing students to a variety of career options and industry requirements. There are currently career and technical education programs at all APS high schools and eight APS middle schools.
For more information, contact the Office of Career, Technical and Agricultural Education at 404-802-5979, or visit the APS website.
Talk Up APS 
Leave a Reply