HANOVER COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — Middle and high school students from across Virginia, Maryland and Washington D.C. convened on Saturday, Dec. 3, at Atlee High School in Mechanicsville to build robots for the First Tech Challenge Qualifier 1 robotics sports competition as part of a nationwide program celebrating STEM education in schools.
Hosted by the independent nonprofit First Chesapeake, the robotics competition featured more than 240 teams of students, who came together to assemble robots for a competition that highlights science and technology in public school learning while testing students’ abilities to strategize and work together as a team.
“Every year these students get together and they build their robot from scratch from parts they market; they project plan, they do all the things a…