Homeschool robotics team from Arkansas wins a spot in the international competition

Russellville, Arkansas – After a local tournament, a homeschool robotics team from Arkansas took first place and earned a spot in the international championship.

The team from the Pope County Library, called VEX IQ Power Supply, emerged victorious on March 8 at Arkansas Tech University, taking home the VEX IQ Robotics Competition Excellence Award. Every week, Power Supply, a group of homeschooling middle schoolers, gets together at the library.

Competition authorities state that a team must score at or near the top of the engineering notebook rankings, demonstrate good sportsmanship and professionalism, and focus on the needs of its students to receive the excellence award. They must also do a stellar team interview and place in the top thirty in Robot Skills and Teamwork competitions.

To help guarantee its victory, Power Supply finished second in the Teamwork Challenge and third in the Skills Challenge.

Because of the award, the team will compete in the VEX Robotics World Championship in May in Dallas, Texas, representing Arkansas. Only 420 of the 5,500 VEX IQ teams, according to library authorities, get to the world competition.

The team’s victory, according to Amanda Baillie, assistant director of the Pope County Library System and team coach, shows that they accomplished a lot with limited resources.

“Our Homeschool VEX program operates on a shoestring budget,” she said. “We have older equipment and are usually limited to two to three hours of practice time each week.”

To pay for the trip to Dallas, the Pope County Library System Foundation is now collecting money. The Russellville branch of the library is open for donations.