REC Foundation Welcomes the VEX Robotics Community Back to School

[Ricky Q.]

New Competitions, Grants and Scholarships available!

ROCKWALL, TEXAS – September 5, 2013 – The Robotics Education & Competition (REC) Foundation today announced open registration for more than 350 competitions across three programs – VEX IQ, VEX Robotics Competition (VRC) and VEX U – at www.robotevents.com. In addition, the REC Foundation is pleased to share that the 2014 and 2015 VEX Robotics Competition World Championship, co-presented by the Northrop Grumman Foundation and the REC Foundation, will once again take place at the Anaheim Convention Center in California on April 23-26, 2014 and April 22-25, 2015. This intense four-day annual robotics-engineering tournament will attract more than 800 teams and 15,000 students from over 25 countries to celebrate their accomplishments and further inspire their interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

Due to the exponential growth of the VEX Robotics Competition over the past season, the REC Foundation will offer new State/Province Championships that will provide an opportunity to qualify for the VEX Robotics Competition World Championship. To learn more about the State/Province Championships please read the 2013/2014 VEX State Championship Qualifying Criteria. In addition, the REC Foundation is excited to announce a new location and date for the VEX Robotics Competition U.S. National Championship, which will move to a summer event in Honolulu, Hawaii on July 10-12, 2014 in partnership with the Friends of Hawaii Robotics. The CREATE Foundation will continue to hold a premier event in the spring which will also qualify US teams for the National Championship in Hawaii. Please stay tuned for more information about both events, coming soon. Finally, the REC Foundation Online Challenges are available for viewing and will officially open for submissions on September 17, 2013.

“The REC Foundation is pleased to support the recent expansion of the VEX Robotics suite of programs, spanning elementary school through college, with a number of new competitions, grants and scholarship opportunities, and new curriculum resources to support teachers in the classroom,” said Jason Morrella, President, REC Foundation. “We are particularly focused on assisting the growing community of students, educators, mentors, volunteers, partners and sponsors involved in robotics engineering programs to advance STEM education.”

The REC Foundation continues to expand the number and selection of college and university scholarships and is pleased to introduce a new online resource to provide information about new team grant opportunities. VEX Robotics has also recently introduced a number of VEX IQ curriculum resources, which are aligned to the Common Core education standards, to support the early integration of robotics into the classroom. More information about all of these new offerings can be found at: www.roboticseducation.org.

About the Robotics Education & Competition (REC) Foundation
The Robotics Education & Competition Foundation, a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization, seeks to increase student interest and involvement in science, technology, engineering and mathematics by engaging students in hands-on, sustainable and affordable curriculum-based robotics engineering programs across the U.S. and internationally. The REC Foundation develops partnerships with K-12 education, higher education, government, industry and the nonprofit community to achieve this work. For more information, please visit www.roboticseducation.org or www.robotevents.com.