Robotics team to compete internationally

SCIENCE NONFICTION—Viewpoint School's Engineering and Robotics Team gather around their entry for the World VEX Robotics Competition in April. Viewpoint School qualified for the World VEX Robotics Competition scheduled for April

This is the first year Viewpoint's Engineering and Robotics Team has entered the robot-building competition.

More than 1,000 teams in 13 countries are participating in qualifying tournaments that will send 200 teams to the championship round in Dallas, Texas.

"They actually built two different robots to see which design worked best," said Lance Argano-Rush, Viepoint Upper School science teacher and coach of the team.

"They worked hard over the past two months. Each member had a different role: some were in design and programming, others in production, and others as the competition drivers and coaches," Argano-Rush said.

In the regional competition at, Viewpoint was randomly paired with other teams for the first six preliminary matches. Viewpoint teamed with Van Nuys Charter High School and the California Academy of Mathematics and Sciences. The alliance won six of the seven final matches and earned all three schools a chance to compete at the world championships.