World-ranked BBHHS robotics team heads to state competition
by Kathleen Steele Gaivin
With impressive performances at the North Union Doubleheader Tournament in December, members of the Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School robotics Team 2011 are headed to the state tournament on March 5.
The team took first place and skills award recognition at the regional tournament in North Union High School in Richwood, Ohio.
“At a tournament, you have matches that rank the teams, and then at the end there is a tournament,” Bees robotics coach Craig Kowatch explained. “In the tournament, two teams [alliance teams] play against two other teams and go through a single elimination tournament.”
At North Union, all BBHHS teams made the semifinals, and three qualified for the finals.
According to Kowatch, this is the school’s seventh year competing in VEX Robotics, a design and competition program for elementary through university students sponsored by The Robotics Education & Competition Foundation.
The Bees have 33 competitors on six teams.
“Each year, a new game is created, and they must design a robot to play that game,” Kowatch said. “This year’s game is called ‘Change Up.’”
The coach said the school’s assigned number is 2011, and within that, each team has a letter. The teams are 2011A through 2011F.
“Teams 2011D and 2011F won the tournament,” Kowatch said.
In addition to the tournament, he said there are skills events throughout the competition, each lasting one minute. The team scores as many points as possible during that time. The events test teams with a joystick and programming.
Each team competes on its own, but judges combine the scores to get a total score for the school.
At the North Richwood competition, BBHHS finished with the top three scores overall. The top two teams’ scores rank among the top 25 in the world, according to Kovatch. He said the list includes 40,000 teams from more than 70 countries.
“I believe our program’s greatest asset is our kids’ willingness to pass their knowledge on from one team to another,” he said. “The culture in our room is about making all the teams their best, and the kids buy into it.”
He said the following students have had a standout year: Matt Kerekanich (2011D), Shahil Merchant (2011D), Nathan Trybus (2011F) and Adam Flis (2011F).
The pandemic has brought challenges in most facets of life. Kowatch said he believed that being apart from each other was one of the more challenging aspects for the students.
Last spring, when in-person learning was cancelled for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year due to COVID-19, the robotics team found ways to work together at a distance while assisting the community. 2021 robotics team president Merchant and other students spearheaded a project to create 3-D printed face shields for essential workers and businesses whose employees were at high risk of being exposed to the virus.
Kowatch said that seeing the team reunited for a tournament once again made him realize how important the competition aspect of the club is to its members.
“After our tournament, I witnessed how important competing is to the members of the teams and their families,” he said. “Having competitions canceled at the end of the season last year was heartbreaking, especially for the seniors.
“After North Union, several parents told me that the competition allowed them to see how important it was to finally compete. They believe they saw their kids almost back to normal, laughing, talking and feeling proud about themselves again since dealing with this pandemic.”
Feature image photo caption: The Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School robotics club made an impressive return to in-person competition at the North Union Doubleheader Tournament in December. Two BBHHS teams will continue on to the state championship in March, with their VEX Robotics scores ranking in the top 25 in the world.
