The Vexes: E’Mahree Muldrew, Jazlyn Mejia, Samuel Fellows, and Rey Mendoza.

The Flamethrowers: Kayveon Anderson, Ella Bramlett, Graydon Randle, and Johnny Paredes.

The Cobra Kais: Julia Bobo, Sophia Finigan, and Aracely Garcia

The Unknowns: Ramsey Beck, Kevin Bran, Terrianna Frazier, and Julian Ugarte

PRESS RELEASE

HOPE, Arkansas - March 10, 2023 –Hope Academy of Public Service’s students from The Vexes, VEX IQ Competition team 71801F, secured second Place in the Teamwork Challenge and The Flamethrowers, team 71801B, placed sixth out of all teams at the Arkansas VEX IQ State Championship in Russellville, Arkansas. The students collaborated with the top 32 teams from 15 schools.

The action-packed day engaged elementary and middle school students in the 2022-2023 VEX IQ Competition Slapshot, presented by the Robotics Education & Competition (REC) Foundation. The Vexes and Flamethrowers have secured a spot to showcase their skills at the culminating event of the season, the VEX Robotics World Championship, sponsored by the Northrop Grumman Foundation, where the best teams from across the country and around the world compete to be crowned World Champions.

Hope will be well represented at the World Championship and have the company of former Hope students, Colin Easterling, Juan Leon, and Hunter Mathis. The Atum’s VEX U team is currently ranked fifth in the world!

In the VEX IQ Competition, students, with guidance from their teachers and mentors, build a robot using VEX IQ parts to solve an engineering challenge that is presented each year in the form of a game. Teams work together to score points in Teamwork Matches and get to show off their skills individually in driver-controlled and programming Robot Skills Challenges.

The VEX IQ Competition fosters student development of teamwork, collaboration, critical thinking, project management, and communication skills required to prepare them to become the next generation of innovators and problem solvers. 

Born, the team’s coach said, “I am beyond proud of all the competitors for the dedication it takes to not only go to the state championship, but that they accomplished it in their first year of robotics! All teams finished in the top third of teams across the state and having two teams make it to Worlds is incredible.We wouldn’t have gotten here without the support of families and community sponsors of EPIC Student Ministries and Main Street Cleaners.”

“Teamwork, problem-solving, and ingenuity are all on display at a VEX IQ Competition event and
students develop these skills all year long by participating on a robotics team,” said Dan Mantz, CEO
of the REC Foundation. “Together, with the support of educators, coaches, and mentors, we’re
fostering students’ passion for STEM at a young age to ensure that we have a generation that is
dedicated to creating new discoveries and tackling life’s future challenges.”

About the Robotics Education & Competition (REC) Foundation
The Robotics Education & Competition (REC) Foundation’s global mission is to provide every
educator with competition, education, and workforce readiness programs to increase student
engagement in science, technology, engineering, math, and computer science.

The Vexes: E’Mahree Muldrew, Samuel Fellows, Jazlyn Mejia, and Rey Mendoza.