Tri-City United School’s middle school team, Circuit Surfers (3589F), placed 332nd in the world at the Vex V5 World Robotics Tournament April 25-27 at the America’s Center Convention Complex in downtown St. Louis, Mo.
The team headed south on Friday, April 24 in school vans to compete with teams from 38 different nations across world in this year’s challenge — Push Back. The Circuit Surfers even decked out their booth on location with beach/surf decorations, as well as wearing tropical themed attire for the grand occasion.
Advisor Jeffery Ballman said, “As a first year middle school robotics team, each student is a 7th grader and this was their first year competing in the middle school robotics club. The students enjoyed meeting other 7th and 8th graders from all around the country and the world and collected signatures from these other teams on their team surfboard. The team learned to improve their defensive game and learned to collaborate with each other and students from around the country and around the world.”
Circuit Surfers is comprised of Landon Ballman, Vincent Carpenter, Colton Claffey, Jake Goettl, and AJ Munguia.
TCU’s team competed in the engineering division, where they placed...
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From the left, Landon Ballman, AJ Munguia, and Jake Goettl, focus on competition at the world competition in St. Louis.
Landon Ballman (left), Vincent Carpenter, Colton Claffey, AJ Munguia, and Jake Goettl pose inside their decorated booth at the VEX V5 World Robotics Championship.