Cowley College Sumner Campus hosts Robotic Challenge Day to 10 area middle schools
Sumner Newscow report — The Cowley College Sumner Campus in Wellington, hosted the second annual Robotics Challenge for middle school students on Friday, April 22. Ten middle schools provided 25 teams to compete in 14 events.
The first challenge was completed in March. The teams were timed while they put together a Tobbie II robot and showed it was functional. The robotic events on Friday included: dance, programing and coding, racing, obstacle courses, bowling, mazes, and many more.
NASA provided a tremendous presentation about what it does besides going to space.
“The students loved it,” said Campus Operations Officer Jan Grace. “The interactive booths provided fun and STEM learning for all attending.”
The Robotic Challenge was made possible by the following partners: KanOkla, Cowley College, Sumner Cowley Electric, and Sumner County Economic Development.
“Those that volunteered, sponsored, and attended the Robotic Challenge, we thank you,” Grace said.
The ultimate goal is to teach the programming language to students, leading to career paths in tech, IT, AI, programming, assembly, and repairing robotics. It is predicted nearly all career paths, from healthcare to agriculture, will be enhanced by the use of AI and robotics. Learning this language at an early age will open up multiple career options for our students.
The hope for the county-wide program is that through competition and networking, this will create future collaboration between students and spark ideas for startups or the expansion of current businesses in Sumner County, attracting more employment opportunities, a skilled workforce and higher wages.
