![Peering through his glasses, Blue Brains Team Lead and senior Sawyer Ladd carefully examines his team’s robot in between contests. As team lead, Ladd seeks to encourage collaboration among his teammates. “We try [to] become more than just a group of people achieving successful robotics. On my team, I've tried to make us more of a friend group than a robotics team. So that's improved our team chemistry — we just generally enjoy being around each other and that allows us to work together a little [better],” Ladd said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/DSC_0021-1.jpg)
For the first time this year, all four robotics teams competed under one roof at the Ladue VEX Robotics Competition Tournament. On Sunday, BreakPoint, MetalMinds, OverDriv6 and Blue Brains put their robots — and skills — to the test by playing Over Under, this year’s VEX game.
During the game, opposing teams compete to score goals with triangular balls while navigating obstacles.
“There’s a lot of restrictions on how your robot can move across the field. Physically, there’s a big pipe across the field,” Blue Brains Team Lead and senior Sawyer Ladd said. “So my team [has] added slides to the front of the robot to help prop [it] up to get over the middle pipe and we’ve made sure that we stayed beneath 11 inches, which allows us to just drive straight into the bars inside [the goal].”
One team, Metal Minds, finished in 5th during the Skills Competition and reached the first round of the elimination bracket. Ladd’s team, Blue Brains, placed second overall in the tournament, receiving a Tournament Finalist Award and earning special recognition through the Judges Award.
“My favorite part [of this tournament] would be succeeding with our robot that we hastily made,” Ladd said. “We had recently rebuilt the robot, so we spent some time adding another mechanism and then we also gave a lot of time to our coder to do some finetuning.”
Meanwhile, OverDriv6 and BreakPoint both reached quarterfinals. Throughout the tournament, the two teams worked together, collaborating to beat out teams from Moberly Senior High and Troy Buchanan High.
“Most of all, we set out to help our other partner robotics team, BreakPoint, who is not state-qualified yet,” OverDriv6 Co-Lead and senior Andrew Son said. “What we set out to do is to partner up with them and help innovate their robot so that we could help them move up to state. We try to lift each other up. Instead of focusing on us trying to win the competition for our interest only, we try to bring in other people’s interests.”
Ranked as 26th and 6th in the state respectively, OverDriv6 and Blue Brains have qualified for the MO VEX Robotics State Championship on March 2.
“We wanted to take Ladue as a learning opportunity to meet other teams, collaborate within our own teams and figure out new innovative ways we can test out [our robot]. We found that our robot was slower this competition, so we’re trying to make it faster. As a team, I believe we can really accomplish our goals,” Son said.
![Adding a tray of canned corn to the pile, junior Michael Collop assists in transporting donations for the Holiday Food Drive. The event, hosted schoolwide from Dec. 10-17, raised over 5,000 food items to deliver to the Parkway Food Pantry, helping several families in need. [The drive] is a great thing for us to do because you're giving to those who are less fortunate, and it helps provide for people who can't provide for themselves. [The] competition is always fun, too. It was fun to be in [social studies teacher Jess] Chazen’s class, because he always gets worked up over [the competition]. He made it exciting, and was always convincing us to turn in cans for the drive,” Collop said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/feature-photo-unsung-2.png)
![Principal John McCabe announces that Jeffrey Chazen has won Teacher of the Year. Chazen was discussing freedom of speech with his AP Government class when the door opened and administrators rushed in. “[I was] extremely happy and humbled, but mostly shock[ed]. I've been here longer than any other teacher, so I know most of the people on the list of Teachers of the Year, and they are amazing teachers themselves,” Chazen said. “It's just nice to be on the list with them, including [social studies teacher Kristen] Collins, who is the only other social studies teacher who has won Teacher of the Year. It was nice to bring something back to the social studies department.”](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/DSC_0021-1-2-1200x801.jpg)
![Striking a pose following their group dance, the 2024 Mr. Longhorn contestants welcome their audience to the show. Throughout the night, the nine competitors participated in an occupational section, skits for the talent portion and a fashion attire show before finalists were interviewed. “It's a fun time getting to hang out with my friends and doing [our] acts. I think I'm most excited for my performance with [seniors Bart Connors, Gavin Hamlin and Colin Hughes]. I like that I get to dance a little bit. I don't think I'm very good, but I'm gonna try my best to put on a show,” contestant and senior Henry Wild said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/DSC_9759-1200x798.jpg)
![Kicking off dress rehearsal, Mr. Longhorn contestant and senior Carson Hughes goes over the group routine alongside other competitors. With just two days of practice, all participants learned the entirety of their introductory dance, chose an occupation to embody and crafted skits for the show. “The best part of this [whole thing] was learning the dance and just practicing with the guys. We [have to] try not to laugh the whole time, but we're having a lot of fun,” Hughes said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/IMG_5112-1-e1732164157549-1200x812.jpg)
![Blending together a concoction for a science experiment, science teacher Joel Anderson scares his students by bringing excitement and thrill into his classroom for his annual Halloween show. It took about six weeks for Anderson to set up his classroom for the show. “It’s pure terror. I came up with this idea a couple decades ago to do something fun for Halloween. So I pretend to be this mad scientist [that creates] a Frankenstein-like creature [with the class], learning a little bit of science along the way and [then ending] with a laser show. It’s just for fun; entertainment value,” Anderson said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/DSC_0021.JPG_-1200x800.jpg)
![Standing with girls cross country team mascot Pump the pumpkin, senior Sydney Etchason laughs with her teammates. Before the team’s senior night, Etchason undertook an odyssey to recover the pumpkin, which had been stolen by boys cross country. “We went through practice, and then a little birdie told me that it was in [senior] Emmett [Vernon's] car. I [offered Vernon] $50 to give us our pumpkin back, and we got Pump back,” Etchason said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/DSC_0002-1-1200x800.jpg)
Will Gonsior • Feb 9, 2024 at 4:20 pm
System.out.println(“SO GOOD SERENA”);