Notre Dame middle-school robotics team repeats as state champion; lower-school team qualifies for worlds.
Team 3333J, the Code Breakers, from left, Jeffrey Guo, Patrick Soumo, Beck Silver and Jose Turrubiartes, earned the top spot in the 2018 GM VEX IQ Middle School Michigan State Championship, which was held in Charlotte, Mich.
According to those at the event, team 3333J, which includes sixth-graders Jeffrey Guo, Patrick Soumo, Beck Silver and Jose Turrubiartes, broke their own records three times during the day-long competition and may have broken a state record in the process.
The 2018 GM VEX IQ Middle School Michigan State Championship this year was a joint venture between Charlotte Public Schools and Notre Dame.
The Code Crushers' performance Sunday qualified them for the world championship, which will be held April 29 to May 1 at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville.
In addition, on Saturday, Notre Dame's 5th-grade team of Addison Barton, Amelia Kayi and Dominic Sarti won the "Think" Award for outstanding computer programming in Charlotte in the elementary school competition. They created a complicated autonomous routine for the robot and successfully executed it. The team also was interviewed by judges from GM and Kettering University and were able to effectively explain their programming code.
The award also earns them a spot in the VEX IQ world championship in Louisville.
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About Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy
Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. Notre Dame's upper school enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame's middle and lower schools enroll students in pre-kindergarten through grade eight. All three schools are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDPMA is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy, visit the school's home page at www.ndpma.org.