Twelve teams from five Charles County Public Schools (CCPS) middle and high schools participated in the 2022 VEX Robotics Southern Maryland Showdown on Saturday, Feb. 5, at John Hanson Middle School. The VEX Robotics Competition, presented by the Robotics Education and Competition Foundation, is the largest and fastest growing middle school and high school robotics program globally with more than 20,000 teams from 50 countries playing in over 1,700 competitions worldwide.

The top 24 teams in the state will advance to the state competition on Feb. 26 at Hereford Middle School in Monkton. Seven of the 24 teams participating in the state competition are Charles County Public Schools teams. These teams are:

·      Lucky Duckies, Piccowaxen Middle School.        

·      Power Bots, Piccowaxen.

·      CPU's, John Hanson Middle School.      

·      Golden Robotics, Hanson.

·      Vexy Maniacs, Hanson.

·      This Team, Milton M. Somers Middle School.    

·      That Team, Somers.

Teams were also given awards based off their performance during the event.

The Lucky Duckies team of Piccowaxen Middle School received the Excellence Award and was one of two teams named the tournament champions. The Excellence Award is given to the top all around team in the competition and qualifies the team for the event region championship. The tournament champions are the first-place finals match alliance. This Team of Somers also received the Tournament Champions Award.

The Trebuchets of General Smallwood Middle School and Zip Ties and a Prayer received the Tournament Finalist Award. Tournament finalist is given to the second-place finals match alliance. The PowerBots of Piccowaxen received the Robot Skills Champion Award and the Design Award. The Robot Skills Champion Award is given to the team with highest combined top Programming and top Driving Skills Challenge score. The Design Award is given to the team with most effective and efficient robot design process.

The Trebuchets of General Smallwood received the Judge’s Award. The Judge’s Award is given to the team deserving recognition from judges for special accomplishments. This Team of Somers received the Create Award. The Create Award is given to the team with a creative engineering solution. The Alluminators of North Point received the Think Award. The Think Award is given to the team with impressive and effective autonomous programming.

That Team of Somers and CPU’s of Hanson received the Sportsmanship Award. The Sportsmanship Award is given to the team that demonstrates respect and great enthusiasm.

Awards were given to volunteers and coaches of the participating schools as well. John Hanson received the Volunteer of the Year Award which recognizes contribution of an event volunteer. The Coach of the Year Award was given to Robert Adamson, a math teacher, at Somers. This award recognizes an outstanding teacher.

About CCPS

Charles County Public Schools provides 27,000 students in grades prekindergarten through 12 with an academically challenging education. Located in Southern Maryland, Charles County Public Schools has 37 schools that offer a technologically advanced, progressive and high quality education that builds character, equips for leadership and prepares students for life, careers and higher education.

The Charles County public school system does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age or disability in its programs, activities or employment practices. For inquiries, please contact Kathy Kiessling, Title IX/ADA/Section 504 Coordinator (students) or Nikial M. Majors, Title IX/ADA/Section 504 Coordinator (employees/ adults), at Charles County Public Schools, Jesse L. Starkey Administration Building, P.O. Box 2770, La Plata, MD 20646; 301-932-6610/301-870-3814. For special accommodations call 301-934-7230 or TDD 1-800-735-2258 two weeks prior to the event.

CCPS provides nondiscriminatory equal access to school facilities in accordance with its Use of Facilities rules to designated youth groups (including, but not limited to, the Boy Scouts).