AMAP hosts Rise of the Robots

ECTC and the Advanced Manufacturing Accelerator Project hosted Rise of the Robots VEX Scrimmage on On Dec. 14. Seven area schools participated, bringing 13 different teams to compete in the VEX Scrimmage.  

AMAP is a $1.9 million dollar 4-year project at ECTC that is funded by the Rural Post-secondary Education Development Department of Education grant. The goal of the program is to spread the seeds of Advanced Manufacturing from middle school to high school, to ECTC, and then to high skilled, high paying jobs in the region.   

“We are using VEX as an educational marketing tool to bring students into the world of robotics and engineering,” said Eileen Worthington, AMAP Director.  

Each of the teams competed in preliminary rounds where they were paired with another team to make an alliance. After the preliminary rounds, the top teams picked their alliances and competed in the semifinals. The final rounds were the best of three between the North Hardin High School and Faith Co-Op alliance against the LaRue County High School and Central Hardin High School alliance.  The North Hardin and Faith Co-Op alliance won. 

“Students with VEX experience make the best employees,” said Marty Sutherland, ECTC Enginering and Electronics Technology professor. “These students learn how to work as a team, troubleshoot and manage their time.”  

“The Scrimmage was very beneficial for our students,” NaToshya Reed, from Faith Co-Op said after the event. “They now know things they need to work on for the upcoming competitions. The information and strategies the ECTC VEX team provided were very valuable for our students. We cannot wait for the next event.”  

ECTC and AMAP will partner up again March 1, 2025 for another scrimmage.  If you are interested in participating, attending or supporting the VEX teams at ECTC or from area schools, please contact Eileen Worthington, AMAP Director, at eileen.worthington@kctcs.edu.