HUGE NOVEMBER FOR NDP ROBOTICS

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November 25, 2024

For information on admission to Notre Dame Prep, please click here. 

Notre Dame Prep teams from middle school and upper school find big success through three VEX Robotics Competition tournaments. Six teams qualify for states.

An extremely busy month of November for Notre Dame Prep's VRC teams yields a number of successful tourneys that included qualifications for the big state championship in February. 

The following summarizes the three most recent qualifier tournaments with teams from Notre Dame Prep:

Team 3333S, "Devious Shady," consisting of 8th graders Sam Tyler and Tommy Higdon and 7th grader Alex Lark, traveled to the Grandville High Stakes Tournament for middle school, held Nov. 2 at the Grandville Robotics Competition Center in Grandville, Mich., with 20 other teams in their age group. 

According to Jerry Palardy, who mentors NDP's VRC participation, it was the team's first full VRC tournament, and they did not fail to impress. 

"They finished fourth in qualifications, got picked by the #1 alliance, and won their quarterfinal match, 32-0, but then had to bow out in the semifinals on a tough call," Palardy said. "But their day wasn't over, and they won the Design Award for having a great notebook and nailing their team interview. They also won the Robot Skill Champion award with a combined score of 27."

Palardy said that winning those awards earned them a bid to the Michigan state championship in late February also to be held at Grandville.

At the 4th Annual Plainwell Robotics Club High Stakes Tournament on November 23 for middle school and high school teams, team 3333T, or the "Tornado Troopers" (Juan Pablo Turrubiartes 8th, David Ma 8th, and Steven Carter 8th) were triple-crown winners, winning the Tournament Champions, Excellence, and Skills Champion awards.

"They dominated from start to finish, ranking #1 in qualifications," Palardy said after the event held at Plainwell High School in Plainwell, Mich., "and their 18-point skills autonomous was more than double the next highest score."

Palardy added that the judges must have been impressed with their notebook and team interview because they added the Excellence Award to their hardware collection. 

"As a coach, I have to say that these guys really deserved it," he said. "They put in the practice time, stay on task, require little guidance, and always seek a new challenge. It is hard to believe this is the first time the T-team has won a tournament. But their persistence paid off, as we all knew it would."

Also at Plainwell, team 3333Y, "Wynaut" (Graden Grech 8th, Armaan Sharma 8th, Elijah Scales 9th, and Jack Simon 9th) captained the #3 alliance in the finals. 

"They selected 3333N 'Cyber Crew' (Lourdes Francis 7th, Jude Francis 7th, and Arya Patel 7th) as their partner, and the alliance made it to the semifinals," Palardy said. "3333Y also won the Innovate Award, which earned them a bid to states. And 3333N's high skills score also punched their ticket to a wildcard bid at the state tournament. 

Also on Nov. 23, NDP sent a number of upper school roboteers to Kettering University in Flint for High Stakes Tournament #4.

3333X "X-treme Bot" (Caden Staniszewski 9th, Chris Artinian 9th, Evan Tringaj 9th, Krrish Patel 11th, and William Platt 9th) ranked #1 in the qualification rounds at the 41-team event at Kettering. 

Palardy said there were some very good teams at this event and due to the unorthodox design of NDP's robot, a number of teams declined their invitation for an alliance before #39T accepted. 

"However, they would go on to gain the respect of all the teams as they methodically eliminated them," he said. "But the final match was a different story, with a series of mishaps. Due to a damaged intake, the Xbot autonomous only scored one ring instead of the usual two to four, which led another team to take auton by one point." 

Team 3333X ultimately lost the match, 26-20, but went on to take home the prestigious Judges Award.

 

For information on admission to Notre Dame Prep, please click here.

Comments or questions? mkelly@ndpma.org

About Notre Dame Preparatory School
"At Notre Dame Prep, we inspire our students to become the best versions of themselves. We challenge them through an experience of academic excellence, focused on active, project-based learning. We invite them to explore a world of opportunities beyond the classroom. We guide them as they grow in spirituality within a community strong in its Catholic and Marist identity."

Notre Dame Preparatory School is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. Notre Dame Preparatory School'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 Prep's middle and lower schools enroll students in pre-kindergarten through grade eight. All three schools are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDP is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the National Association of Independent Schools. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School, visit the school’s home page at www.ndprep.org.