Teams from Indian Head, Dr. Thomas L. Higdon, and Dr. Samuel A. Mudd elementary schools, as well as Theodore G. Davis, Matthew Henson and Piccowaxen middle schools, placed in the 2013 Rescue the Gulf/Chemical Engineering Robotics Challenge held Feb. 23 at North Point High School. The event was sponsored by the U.S. Navy and National Defense Education Program and is part of the 2012-13 Indian Head Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) In-School Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) program.

The “Robonauts” team from Higdon was named the overall winner at the elementary school level. Team members are fifth graders Owen Butler, Kaitlyn Brown, Zack Delane, Ahryel McManhan and Joshua Ray. Their team also received first place in the research category, and third place in the technical category. In the research proposal category, teams are judged on research conducted on the recent Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The team was required to present their research to the judge’s panel and participate in a question and answer session. As part of the technical category, students are required to perform a robotics task for the judges and are scored on their ability to execute.  

The “NX Dave” team from Henson was named the overall winner in the middle school division of the competition. Team members are eighth graders Morgan Hanson, Siree Stewart, Tianna Vines, Tobias Coombs and Nikiya Mitchell. The team also won first place in the robotics challenge, tied for first in the teamwork category, and received a third-place award in the technical and research categories. During the robotics challenge, teams were required to complete seven challenges with their robots within three minutes. In the teamwork category, the judges provided awards to the team that best represented their ability to work together as a team.

The “Avatar” team from Indian Head was named the second overall winner at the elementary school level. Team members are fifth graders Zakri Asiala, Isaiah Brisco, Ronderick Ludden, Xzavier Serrano and Tiger Tu. The team also won first place in the teamwork category, and second place in the research category. 

The “Robonerds” team from Henson was named the second-place overall winner at the middle school level. The team also received first place in the technical and research categories, and tied for first place in the teamwork category. Student team members are eighth graders Kaylee Cox, Khalaya Myers, Joshua Graham, Donnell Johnson, Shannen Solomon and Rebecca Smith.

The third-place overall winner at the elementary school level was the “Awesome Robots” team from Higdon. They also received a third place award in the robotics category. Team members are fifth graders Natalie Chirinos-Deleon, Sydney Garner, Mark Mudd, Tyler Moody and Madison Meiser.

Piccowaxen’s “Smeco Jr.” team received fourth place overall at the middle school le