Robotics Club
The NVHS Robotics Club (a.k.a. the WiredCats) was founded in 2012 by Mr. Matt Ragusa, and it included 10 student members and two VEX robotics kits. This allowed for two teams of five students each, whom competed at a Rolling Meadows High School competition that inaugural season. Through the vision and hard work of Mr. Ragusa and his assistant coaches, the club grew to its current size of seven teams and achieved great success at regional, state, national, and world competitions.
Mr. Ragusa started a home-grown competition at Neuqua in his second year as the robotics club coach. The WiredCats VEX Robotics Tournament with 24 teams in 2014 and grew to include 74 teams in 2017. It has received great support from the community and media attention from around the region. Based on its success, the tournament expanded from a NVHS event to a district-wide event starting in the 2018-19 season. It's comprised of three tournaments: two high school tournaments (an IPSD only event and an open event), and an IPSD middle school scrimmage.
The club provides students with an opportunity to learn the basics of electro-mechanical technology using the VEX Educational Robotics Design System (see the VEX Information page for more information. Participating students gain familiarity with mechanical design principles, computer-aided design, and basic programming of robots. They engage in hands-on building, testing, and competing with the robots they design. In the process, students build skills in collaboration, perseverance, and critical thinking, among others.
Participating in the club can be a lot of fun, but "serious fun" with a purpose. We meet twice a week at the NVHS Birkett Freshman Building in Room H123 to design, build, test, redesign, rebuild, and retest our robots. It all leads to competing against teams from all over the midwest at competitions held on Saturdays throughout our region. Our teams have a track record of qualifying for state, national, and world tournaments as well.
For more information, please visit their website at https://sites.google.com/ipsd.org/nvrobotics/home or contact Mr. Pete Ross at pete_ross@ipsd.org
Mr. Ragusa started a home-grown competition at Neuqua in his second year as the robotics club coach. The WiredCats VEX Robotics Tournament with 24 teams in 2014 and grew to include 74 teams in 2017. It has received great support from the community and media attention from around the region. Based on its success, the tournament expanded from a NVHS event to a district-wide event starting in the 2018-19 season. It's comprised of three tournaments: two high school tournaments (an IPSD only event and an open event), and an IPSD middle school scrimmage.
The club provides students with an opportunity to learn the basics of electro-mechanical technology using the VEX Educational Robotics Design System (see the VEX Information page for more information. Participating students gain familiarity with mechanical design principles, computer-aided design, and basic programming of robots. They engage in hands-on building, testing, and competing with the robots they design. In the process, students build skills in collaboration, perseverance, and critical thinking, among others.
Participating in the club can be a lot of fun, but "serious fun" with a purpose. We meet twice a week at the NVHS Birkett Freshman Building in Room H123 to design, build, test, redesign, rebuild, and retest our robots. It all leads to competing against teams from all over the midwest at competitions held on Saturdays throughout our region. Our teams have a track record of qualifying for state, national, and world tournaments as well.
For more information, please visit their website at https://sites.google.com/ipsd.org/nvrobotics/home or contact Mr. Pete Ross at pete_ross@ipsd.org
