Robotics tournament held at Nipomo High School for Lucia Mar School District students

NIPOMO, Calif. - The Delta High School Robotics Team in collaboration with Nipomo High School put on a district-wide tournament for elementary and middle school students in the Lucia Mar School District.

“Bringing robotics to our small community is great,” said Sydney Bennett, a parent of a student in the district.

“Especially in a small community like ours on the central coast we need activities that engage these kids and not just athletics,” said Bennett.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 20 robotics teams at schools such as Oceanview, Paulding, and Mesa were not able to attend their usual, seasonal Vex IQ events.

“It’s been two years since we actually had a tournament. When the kids come walking through it’s like Disneyland.” said middle school teacher, Gary Heckman.

“It’s a fun zone,” said Heckman.

 “The kids really like being on a team and there’s a whole lot of roles that are available to them besides just building a robot,” said Delta High Robotics Coach, Jeff Cooper.

The robots built by students were challenged to collect small yellow balls and collect them into a bin within a certain amount of time.

“I think Robotics is a great community. There’s a lot of things you can learn from the people around you. You do a lot of team building and team support,” said student, Zoe Ward-Correa.

The top two winners won trophies and banners.

“This is definitely something that kids will enjoy,” said Zoe.