HIGHLANDS – Henry Hudson Regional High School took top honors at the annual New Jersey Coast-IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Robotics Competition on May 2 at Brookdale Community College. Competing were 15 top high schools for a total of 44 teams from across New Jersey.
HHRS’ solo team, led by HHRS teacher Nancy Shaffery, beat out schools considered to be heavyweights in the Two River area.
The winning HHRS team consisted of five seniors: Jonathan Herrera, Christian Farwell, Matt Young, Ben Wason and Tim Valinotti.
Frank McConnell won the T-shirt design contest that was held during Shaffery’s Photography and Art Design classes, but he did not participate in the robotics challenge.
The students started planning their robot in September 2014 during technology club and began the actual process of building and programming in January. “These students did an outstanding job,” said Shaffery. “These boys worked hard, were very focused and I’m extremely proud of them and their accomplishment.”
According to the IEEE website, “The Robot Challenge is designed to engage high school boys and girls in a 2-4 month activity that closely resembles the work of a graduate engineer in the ‘real world’.” Students are judged on the ability to build a remote controlled robot, program the robot so that it walks across a course on its own, create and orally present a PowerPoint presentation explaining the engineering process and how it applied to the design of their robot, provide a written report and design team shirts (optional).
“This is another great example of how HHRS provides students with the same unique experiences and education they would receive from a private school,” Lenore Kingsmore, principal, said of the win. “We’re incredibly proud of our students and teachers but I am most proud of the fact that each of these students learned their skills without being enrolled in engineering classes but through engaging math and science classes that provided problem-based learning and critical thinking.”
