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The Official Student News Site of Parkway West High

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The Official Student News Site of Parkway West High

Pathfinder

The Official Student News Site of Parkway West High

Pathfinder

The Blue Brains Robotics Team and supporters pose together after winning State and qualifying for Worlds. Teammates hold Second place Skills, Tournament Champion and Excellence Award trophies as the competition comes to an end. “It was such an amazing experience to not only double qualify for Worlds, but to do it with my teammates who are some of my favorite people in the world. I’m really glad I get to continue competing for my senior year,” Senior, Notebook Writer and Drive Team Member Katherine Hanses said.

From state to world: Blue Brains Robotics team emerges victorious

Ashlyn Gillespie and Elizabeth Franklin March 13, 2023

West High became the 2023 Missouri VEX Robotics High School State Champion this past Saturday. Through a series of 2v2 competitions in Jefferson City, Mo., the team won the State tournament, qualifying...

The Blue Brains team members juniors Katherine Hanses, Joseph Britt, Isaac Porter and Anushka Dharmasanam and seniors David Meisinger and Rick Biswas pose in front of their robot and awards at the Speedway signature event in Indianapolis. The awards include their trophies from smaller competitions and World 2021, as well as a small trophy gifted to the team for their performance by robotics sponsor Chris Donaldson. “The trophy was for just being a good team, because this was our first big signature event outside of the virtual ones we did last year,” Hanses said. “[At this competition], we had six matches on the first day, and we won five. We got knocked out in the quarterfinals.”

Blue Brain breakthrough: robotics team prepares to compete internationally

Tanvi Kulkarni, Features Editor December 16, 2021

Tucked away in the school’s most remote classroom, students spend hours after hours tinkering with mechanical parts, writing sophisticated codes and reworking robots to execute extremely precise...

During Robotics Club, sophomores David Meisinger and Rick Biswas build a robot that they competed with in local competitions. Freshman Joseph Britt notes that cooperation was an important factor in the team qualifying for worlds. “Our team is mostly new people, so it is pretty exciting that we were able to work together,” Britt said. “I really like the environment there, and we have been spending a lot of our weekends working on the bot. We aren’t fighting over jobs or fighting over who gets to do what or [over] what the bot should do. We are all able to work together and execute it as a team.”

Robotics team qualifies for their first VRC World Championship

Zoe DeYoung, Staff Writer April 23, 2020

At the beginning of the school year, Blue Brains, one of the schools four robotics teams, set various goals, including making it to state. After not only qualifying for state but winning the competition,...

Senior Scott Hardy makes adjustments to his robot. Prior to their confrontation at state, the team was meeting up after school everyday. “It’s a tad disappointing that we didn’t get first,” Hardy said. “But considering the degree to what that we worked with and considering we went as far in the first place, I’m actually proud of myself [and] the team, especially some people on there and really how much work we put into it.”

Robotics team competes at state

Ridwan Oyebamiji, Staff Writer February 25, 2018

After winning first place at the first Annual Cross Keys Tournament on Feb. 3rd, the Mechanical Bulls and the Full-metal Matadors headed to Rolla, Mo. on Feb. 17 to compete for the Missouri State VEX Championship,...

Senior Onika Martin works on her team's robot for the Oct. 24 contest.

Robotics team prepares for upcoming contest

Nico Stranquist, Staff Writer October 1, 2014
The robotics team is preparing for their first state-wide contest this year, hosted in Indianapolis on Oct. 24.
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Robotics team