VEX Robotics Competition Turning Point is played on a 12 ft x 12 ft foam-mat, surrounded by a sheet-metal and polycarbonate perimeter. There are eight Caps that can be Low Scored on the playing field tiles or High Scored on six Posts around the field. There are also nine Flags, including three Low Flags which can be Toggled by Robots, and six High Flags, which can only be Toggled by being hit with Balls. Teams also score points for Alliance Parking at the end of the Match on their own Alliance Platform, or by Center Parking on the Center Platform, which can be used by either Alliance. For More, read the game manual.

Also, Congratulations to MO' Peeps 1375A from Carman-Ainsworth in Flint receiving the World Middle School Excellence Award! Great job representing Michigan!

​Team 97311B, “The Bacon Bombers” seeded 3rd out of 32 teams in Grandville.  They were presented with the Judges award for displaying exemplary effort and perseverance, making it all the way to the Semi-Finals before being knocked out.  Team members include Duncan Lake Middle School 6th graders, Tyler Ambrose, Ben Griffin, Ryan Helmholdt and Hunter Soyka.

Three additional Caledonia Middle School teams were awarded high honors at Jenison’s Tournament, ​including “Johnny Five is Alive” who seeded 8th out of 32 teams. Team members include Duncan Lake 8th graders, Daniel Battey and Nicholas Dykstra, and Kraft Meadows 7th graders David Polak, Sean Rice, and Anders VanderEide. They were presented the Design Award which qualifies them for the West Michigan Regional at Grandville High School on January 27.  This award is presented to a team that demonstrates an organized and professional approach to the design process, project management, time management and team management.  

The second Middle School team to receive the high honor, Team “Raise the Bar”, comprised of Kraft Meadows 8th graders, Zachary Eggleton, Thomas Munson and Colin Pearson, seeded 10th out of 32 Teams.  They earned the Excellence Award, defined as, "... the highest award presented in the VEX Robotics Competition," which is presented to the top all-around team that exemplifies overall excellence in all areas. This is a huge honor and also advances them to West Michigan Regionals.  

“Roboscots 11,” comprised of Kraft Meadows 8th graders, Philip George, Maxwell Frejeris and Grant Peek was awarded the Robot Skills Champion Award for obtaining the highest skills score at Jenison’s Tournament. This score upped their rank to 4th in the State of Michigan and 33rd in the World! This also qualifies them to compete at the West Michigan Regionals.  Team ‘Raise the Bar’ finished just behind them ranking 8th in the State and 48th in the World. The Skills component of a tournament allows teams to demonstrate what their robot can do on its own, showcasing the team’s computer programming knowledge and driving abilities.

Caledonia High School was represented at the Jenison Tournament by Team “Liekehtiä” made up of Juniors, Andrew Miron, Zach Robotham, and Chris Wrogg who seeded 3rd out of 26 teams. Team “No Pun Intended”, made up of sophomores Logan Foerch, Xander Jaquish, Jenna Lubahn and Freshman Sam Norberg seeded 11th out of 26 teams in their division. “Team Four Strikes Back”, comprised of 11th graders Jared McLean, Harrison Norkus and Matt Kaczanowski, seeded 13th out of 26 teams in their division. Most notable about these High School teams is that each of them improved their robotic skills scores enough to earn them a spot at the West Michigan Regional at Grandville on January 27th.
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Caledonia is excited to have 8 out their 14 teams qualify for Regionals in only their second year running.

VOTING OPENS ON FRIDAY, JANUARY 12 AT 9:00AM CST (10:00AM EST) - VOTING CLOSES FRIDAY, JANUARY 26 AT 6:00PM CST (7:00PM CST)
You must create an account in the Online Challenges system to vote.
​**Note that while judges may take voting into consideration when ranking entiries, this does not necessarily mean the entries with the highest votes automatically advance to the Finalist Stage.**

All online challenges are due exactly 12 Hours from now at 1:00 PM CST, January 10th!!! Hurry and submit your challenges before it's too late! No late submissions will be accepted. For more information, visit the previous post.

A reminder that ALL online challenges are due at 1:00 PM on January 10th - just 1 week from today!!! Make sure that you have those completed and submitted for your chance to win your team a trip to the Vex World Finals in Louisville, Kentucky this April!