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February 25, 2025

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

At last weekend's Consumers Energy and Kettering University Michigan High School State Championship/VEX V5 Robotics Competition High School ERC, all Notre Dame Prep's three team entrants took home major awards, an "unprecedented" accomplishment for any one school. 

From left, Notre Dame Prep's Chris Artinian, Krrish Patel, William Platt, Caden Staniszewski, Alex Chung, Kevin Carter, Dino Acciavatti, Brooklyn Haddad, Sofia Arinez and Vanessa Artinian are at last weekend's VEX state championship in Flint. More photos below.


Three teams from Notre Dame Prep that advanced to the VEX state championship held last Friday and Saturday at Kettering University in Flint came home with important awards. 

According to Jerry Palardy, who mentors NDP's VEX participation, the NDP teams eventually made it into Saturday's later rounds, with team 3333X, "X-treme Bot" (Krrish Patel, 11th, William Platt, 9th, Caden Staniszewski, 9th, and Chris Artinian, 9th) advancing to the semifinals.

"Also, team 3333W, "Power of the Square" (Dino Acciavatti, 11th, Brooklyn Haddad, 12th, Kevin Carter, 11th, and Alex Chung, 10th) made it into the quarterfinals, and team 3333Z "pink" (9th graders Sofia Arinez and Vanessa Artinian) advanced to the round of 16," he said.

At the end of the competition, "team 3333W ultimately earned the event's Create Award for their genuinely unique hex-drive robot," Palardy said. "And for the fifth straight year, they will advance to the VEX Robotics World Championship held May 6-8, at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas, continuing the best 'worlds' streak ever for an NDP team!"

Meanwhile, wrapping up last weekend's state event, team 3333Z won the Energy Award for their enthusiasm and team 3333X won the Sportsmanship Award. 

"With the state's top 80 teams competing last weekend and only 12 judged awards given out, it's not easy for any team to get an award," said Palardy. "The fact that all three of our teams took home awards is unprecedented!"

Team 3333X, "X-Treme Bot" - C. Artinian, Staniszewski, Platt and Patel
 

Team 3333W, "Power of the Square" - Chung, Carter, Acciavatti, and Haddad
 

Team 3333Z, "pink" - V. Artinian and Arinez

 

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.