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Mesa robotics teams win state title; board approves trip to VEX Worlds
Summary
Moriarty-Edgewood students from two Mesa VEX V5 teams described their state championship run and technical work; the board approved out-of-state travel for the teams to compete at VEX Worlds in Dallas, May 5–9, 2025.
Donovan Barba, captain of Team Atlas, and members of the Mesa VEX V5 robotics program told the Moriarty-Edgewood School District board that the two teams earned state recognition and received several tournament awards, and the board approved their travel to the VEX Worlds competition in Dallas May 5–9, 2025.
Coach Mr Smithson summarized the season, saying the program grew from one robot to two and noting both robots scored more than 35 points in recent competitions. Students described different technical approaches: Atlas uses an extendable arm to place rings while Phil is a conveyor-style robot that consistently loads and scores rings. Student programmers discussed autonomous routines; Chris, the chief programmer for Atlas, set an internal target of 20 autonomous points to make the robot more competitive.
Students also highlighted awards and preparation. Donovan said Atlas earned an Innovate award for its arm mechanism and that teamwork and repeated rebuilds prepared the teams for state play. Jasmine and Bowden described coding work on the 15-second autonomous bonus and a longer one-minute routine that performed variably but was iteratively improved at tournaments.
During the meeting the board unanimously approved an out-of-state travel request so the Mesa robotics teams may travel to Dallas May 5–9 for the world championship. Superintendent biano presented the request; the board approved the motion by voice vote.
Board members and administrators praised the students’ public speaking and technical learning, noting that participation in such events builds engineering, coding and collaboration skills. The team plans to travel in May and compete against hundreds of teams at Worlds.
The board did not specify budget line items or identify additional fundraising in the meeting; logistics (flights, hotels) were confirmed by team members during their remarks. The district will reconfirm travel details and parental permissions before departure.
