What do you get when you fill a room with students, computers, a
3D cyber robot and codes to make the robot perform tasks? The start of a cyber
robotics competition.
Three diocesan schools — St. Mark School in Vienna, St. Ann
School in Arlington and St. Timothy School in Chantilly — earned a spot in the
statewide finals of the Virginia Cyber Robotics Coding Competition in Richmond
Jan. 12.
St. Mark eighth-graders Valentina Rozo and Frankie Anstett, who
took third place, received Virginia Commonwealth University College of
Engineering scholarships worth $4,000 a year for four years.
Four diocesan teams from the three schools scored in the top 11
of 35 teams. Each school brought two teams of two students to the finals. Seventh-graders
Ava Romeo and Finley Tarr also competed for St. Mark.
“Essentially, it’s a cloud-based program that combines robotics
and coding,” said Jeanne K. Bliss, director of admissions and student services
at St. Mark. “Students can do it from any computer. They use code to make the
robot complete different challenges, sort of like a series of obstacle courses.
The robot has to go in certain directions, move things, use sensors, collect
points, avoid obstacles, and ‘complete the mission’ by getting to the bull’s-eye/target
at the end of each mission.”
Bliss said she told one of the student finalists that St. Mark
Principal Darcie Girmus was praying for all of them. “Our student said, ‘The
whole time, we’ve been saying God is with us, God is with us, God is with us,’”
said Bliss.
Anstett said his experience at the competition was enriching. “A
lot of it was timed and it gave me a sense of what actual coding was like, not
just as a competition,” he said. “We were around a lot of people who had the
same interests and a lot of opportunities to code.”
The experience taught Rozo how to cope with pressure. “You have
pressure that you are in the top finalists and others wished they could be,”
she said. “Not only are you competing for yourself but also for your teammate.”
Anstett said coding opens a world of possibilities. “I didn’t
have any background knowledge of coding, (but) when I started doing it, I
discovered a deep interest in it,” he said.
To get to the finals, the schools participated in two other steps
— a boot camp Oct. 15-Nov. 4, and qualifiers Nov. 5 -14.
“The field of robotics provides students with an opportunity to
practice logical thinking skills, teamwork, strategic decision making,
resilience and perseverance,” said Marcela Cortes, computer teacher at St. Ann.
“In addition, it offers them the opportunity to think seriously about math
concepts and apply them during their programming.
St. Ann finalists included fifth-graders Nick Hearne, Christian
Larson, Robert Schoshinski and seventh-grader McKenna Hayden.
At St. Mark, the interest is so great in coding they had to do a
“code-off” to determine who would represent the school.
“I love that three diocesan schools made it into the
competition,” said Bliss. “Our students are solid in faith formation and in
using technology to solve today’s and tomorrow’s problems.”
Bliss said coding teaches multistep problem-solving, logic,
reasoning and perseverance. “I think young people are dismissed as not
interested in the world around them,” she said. “It’s not true. They are so
engaged and ready to participate in helping society come up with solutions, and
this is one fun way to engage them in that.”
Jake Foster, Clara Condon, Joon Kim and Maryson Joseph
represented St. Timothy at the finals. Karen Young, a seventh-grade teacher,
said more than 110 fifth- through eighth-graders tried the missions of the
competition.
“Except for the students in my robotics elective, these students
worked at home on their own time,” said Young.