Encoding Success

The SC School for the Deaf and the Blind (SCSDB) Foundation held a Robotics showcase on Wednesday, March 20 at 10:45 a.m.  Attendees at the event were able to view the new and expanded Robotics program at the School for the Deaf.

With the support of 5 generous funders, in 2023, the South Carolina School for the Deaf and the Blind expanded a fledgling Robotics program at the School for the Deaf. The new program had initially been limited to a small group of middle school students, working with limited resources, who managed, in February 2023, their first year of competing, to be victorious in the NRSC IQ national competition, with teams from other Deaf Schools.

“The Ninja Hornets [robotics team] pushed themselves beyond all obstacles, faced challenges with dignity and represented their school well,” explained Jessica Gribble, head coach.

School administrators, teachers, staff and students were on hand to celebrate, and students demonstrated their newly honed skills in three different kinds of robotics.

“Due to their hard work and determination, the team from the School for the Deaf won the Build Award and tied for the national title championship with the Maryland School of the Deaf,” said Sam Hook, Executive Director of the SCSDB Foundation. “Thank you to all who joined us as we witnessed an extraordinary display of innovation and talent at our robotics showcase.”

 

The Ninja Hornets, won a second national championship at this year’s VEX IQ Robotics Competition at the Tennessee School for the Deaf.

The South Carolina School for the Deaf and the Blind (SCSDB)’s middle school robotics team, the Ninja Hornets, won a second national championship at this year’s VEX IQ Robotics Competition at the Tennessee School for the Deaf.

In addition to this being SCSDB’s first back-to-back robotics national championship win, the team also set some National Institute for the Deaf (NTID) Regional STEM Center VEX IQ Robotic Competition records, including:

• First team to win back-to-back.
• First team to jump from a mid-rank team to win it all
• First team of two to hit 100 points in skills challenge
• First team to win both the teamwork challenge and skills challenge

“Returning home second-time national champions, setting several new national records and making history at SCSDB is HUGE,” explained Jessica Gribble, robotics head coach. “The Ninja Hornets pushed themselves beyond all obstacles, faced challenges with dignity and represented their school well.”

VEX IQ is a robot construction system based on plastic, snap-together pieces specifically designed to build highly functional robots. In a VEX IQ Competition, teams of students are tasked with designing and building a robot to play with other teams in a game-based engineering challenge.

“I’ve never been prouder of our boys. Yes, we won again, but the moment I remember most was seeing Toby [robotics team member] sitting with the team from Kentucky and helping them fix their robot,” said Simon McConnell, coach. “Our boys showed that the NTID Regional STEM Center is about learning and helping others, more than winning, and I think that is a valuable lesson that everyone can benefit from.”

NTID Regional Stem Center is the first and largest technological college in the world for deaf and hard-of-hearing students. The center’s mission is to promote Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education initiatives and career awareness for students who are deaf and hard of hearing in middle and high school. 
“Our team had more experience this year, and we knew what to do,” said Toby Allen, eighth-grader and member of robotics team. “I’m so excited about going to the Worlds again, and I know we can do better this time!”

The SCSDB Ninja Hornets will advance to VEX Worlds 2024 in Dallas later this Spring.