Bemidji Middle School robotics team qualifies for VEX Robotics World Championship 2 years running

Mar. 15—BEMIDJI — Bemidji Middle School

robotics coach Bryan Anderson

led two BMS teams to the VEX Robotics World Championship last year.

Now, he's doing the same for team 1532A as they're set to compete April 27-29 in Dallas, Texas.

Following their success at the VEX State Tournament March 2-3 in St. Cloud, the team's placement in skills challenges outside the main competition qualified them for worlds.

Excitement naturally ensued.

"(Two of my teammates) ran up to me during lunch and started shaking me, yelling that we made it to worlds," team member Carter Thorson said regarding the news of the team's world invite.

Such news has raised the bar not only for team 1532A — most of whom are first-time VEX robotics competitors — but also for Anderson as a potential streak for world invites could be in the works.

"It's a little high of a bar because this is my second year coaching and we've had teams qualify both years for worlds," Anderson said, "so it's a great trend and I couldn't be prouder."

Starting their season after the MEA break in October, team members had a chance to conceptualize ideas following last year's world invite, where the following year's challenge is introduced.

Titled "Spin Up," the game

is played on a 12-by-12-foot field with two-team alliances playing against each other.

Alliances score points by launching yellow foam discs into color-coded high goals and spinning four rollers mounted to the field perimeter.

Each match starts with a 15-second autonomous period, or program-controlled period, followed by a one-minute 45-second driver-controlled period. Teams can earn bonus points for each tile their robot is covering as part of the "end game," leaving no limits on how wide a robot can extend itself horizontally.

Each tournament starts off with numerous qualification matches, then alliance selection takes place based on rankings at the end of these matches before teams compete in elimination matches.

1532A competed in several competitions throughout the region since November when they first competed in Fisher. They have also trekked to Thief River Falls, Win-E-Mac and East Grand Forks, and competed at home during the first Lumberjack VEX Invitational on Feb. 11 at Bemidji Middle School.

All six Bemidji teams — four middle school and two high school teams — earned state invites throughout the season.

As they continue attending practices ahead of their Dallas trip, 1532A team member Kellen Knutson added that the team is most excited about the overall experience of participating in the competition, win or lose.

Anderson highlighted the team's consistency, adding, "throughout all of our tournaments, they've been performing well. I'm expecting great things out of them (at worlds)."

Along with 1532A's world invite, Anderson received special recognition as "Mentor of the Year" during the state tournament. Such an honor was a method of recognition coming from his peers and family, who nominated him for the award.

Anderson noted that coaches throughout the state review each nomination in order to pick the award recipient.

"My parents have supported me throughout the time I've been working with the teams and I can't thank them enough for that," Anderson said.

Anderson received further recognition during a March 9 robotics practice when Elaine Hoffman, director of North Country Vocational Cooperative Center, presented Anderson with a 2023 Award of Excellence.

Hoffman noted Anderson's work in advancing technology that promotes career awareness and skill development for youth at BMS.

NCVCC, on behalf of the Minnesota Rural CTE Consortium Grant, also awarded funds to the Bemidji Robotics Booster Club for upgrades in technology equipment.

According to a release, the booster club received a $13,997 mini-grant, "for their documented excellence in supporting and promoting continuous learning and leadership opportunities in career and technical education that strengthens the foundation of education in technical and trades-based careers."

Incorporated in 2018, the Bemidji Robotics Booster Club was formed out of necessity to support the BMS robotics program.

With donations from NCVCC, TEAM Industries and Beltrami Electric, among others, the club picks up the majority of the program's costs in order to provide a space for students who might consider an engineering career or students who will pursue a different career path.

Robotics students can fulfill a variety of roles ranging from building to programming to media.

"There's a lot of these kids who aren't in sports and they have a place that's pretty dominant for them to be and compete and be involved," booster club treasurer Daniel Larson said. "It's one of the big reasons we're seeing it grow so much across the U.S. and across the world. All of these students are working in what they can do professionally."

The real-world application of skills in today's workforce is one reason the robotics program is of profound importance to booster club secretary Michele Burrow.

"We're not going to have tons of NBA players coming out of Bemidji High School, but we've got a lot of possible future engineers coming out of here," Burrow said.

Booster club members highlighted the district's "pipeline" of robotics that starts at Gene Dillon Elementary and continues through the high school, which has mainly participated in FIRST robotics as opposed to VEX.

Following last year's world competition, team members advocated for VEX robotics at the high school level and using ESSER funding, the two BHS teams formed this school year.

Burrow added that the middle school teams spend much of their time at pre-state tournaments competing against high school teams due to the low number of middle school VEX teams throughout the region.

"So they're already competing at a very high level by the time they even get to state," Burrow said.

Regarding 1532A's advancement to worlds, Burrow noted the sheer scale of the competition, speaking from her own experiences attending last year.

"It's massive. I swear we walked at least 10 miles a day between our pits and where we were actually competing," Burrow said. "The kids walk in and are competing against teams in China, Australia ... It's a huge, huge deal."

Providing these experiences leads to Larson's hope that the booster club can expand moving into the future.

"We'd like to grow to a point where we can be a focal point for the community to funnel support for all robotics in the Bemidji region," Larson said. "We're dedicated to the VEX program at the middle school currently, but our hopes and dreams would be to let that grow."

Burrow echoed Larson's sentiments, leaving off, "these kids get bit by the robotic bug and they just want to keep going."

The public can support the team's Texas trip by donating to the

"Send our Bemidji team to Robotics World's in TX" GoFundMe campaign.