From CHS Robotics Adviser Allan Tumolillo:
Each year the Columbia High School Robotics Club is the host club for the huge Robo-CATastrophe Robotics Qualifier. This is the 5th year we have sponsored this event. It is now the largest Robotics Qualifier in New Jersey and only the NJ State Championships tournament at NJIT is larger. We expect 36 teams to be at CHS all day on Sunday, November 15, competing for the chance to qualify into the NJ State Championships tournament.
Matches start at around 10 a.m. in the Main Gym. There will be three robotics playing fields set up so when one match ends, the next starts. The action is virtually non-stop. The competition each team has to accomplish is found at https://www.usfirst.org/
Each team sets up in the CHS cafeterias and spectators are free to walk around in the cafeterias and speak with the teams. Little kids find talking to the team members from high schools all over New Jersey to be a thrill – the many team members are always happy to explain what they are doing, how their robots work, and show kids what they are doing.
There is NO ADMISSION CHARGE – the event is free to everyone!
Robotics will be a big part of the lives of all of the students in our District and of your own children’s lives. Come see the future in action on that Sunday. Feel free to speak with members of the Columbia teams. We will have two of our four teams competing – our varsity team and our junior varsity team. Our freshman team and middle school team will help run the tournament. The freshman and middle school teams start their competitions in January at Liberty Science Center.
Also take a tour of the Robotics Clubroom and take a peek at the trophies we have earned – 5 state championships, two appearances at the world championships earning a 2nd place and a semi-finalist honor, and the award as top club in New Jersey in 2014. All of you should know – Columbia had earned a reputation as the top high school in NJ and in the US in robotics. Our goal is to make it to NJIT and from there, the Eastern Super Regional and, if we work hard, St. Louis for the World Championships.
But that trip starts on November 15. We will see “what we got” and some cheering from the stands will help our teams!
For those who are teachers or building administrators or academic supervisors please announce to the students that this huge event is taking place.
Columbia is the among the largest clubs in New Jersey with three teams at the high school and a new one with students from SOMS and MMS. Please come out and support our students; please tell friends and neighbors; please make announcements in the schools.
Hope to see you all on Sunday, November 15, at Columbia High School!
