SEASIDE NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOL AND
SEACOAST COLLEGIATE HIGH SCHOOL WIN AT
11TH ANNUAL EMERALD COAST BEST ROBOTICS
COMPETITION
Seaside Neighborhood School advances to regional championship
SEASIDE, FL (Nov. 8, 2018) — Students attending Seaside Schools, Inc. are officially among the “best” of the BEST … again.
A team of middle school students from Seaside Neighborhood School and a team of high school students from Seacoast Collegiate High School ventured to the University of West Florida in Pensacola, Florida on Saturday, Oct. 28 to compete for the Emerald Coast Hub in the 11th Annual BEST (Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology) Robotics Competition.
Seaside Neighborhood School earned top honors with 2nd place in the BEST Overall award, and took home four additional awards: 1st place, T-shirt design; 2nd place, Spirit & Sportsmanship: 2nd place, Best Team and 2nd place, Marketing Presentation.
Seacoast Collegiate High School four awards: 1st place for Team Exhibit, 1st place for Team Interview, 1st place for Marketing Presentation and 2nd place for Engineering Notebook.
This year, more than 800 students from 29 schools in Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton counties participated, making Emerald Coast BEST Robotics the second largest hub in the Southeast.
The theme of this year’s competition was “Saving Sea Turtles by Cleaning up Plastics Polluting the Oceans.” Teams had 42 days to build a robot, documenting the engineering process along the way.
Seaside Neighborhood School qualifies to advance to the regional championship at South’s BEST Robotics competition, which comprises 16 hubs from the Southeast. It will be one of 52 teams. The regional competition will be hosted at Auburn University Dec. 1-2, 2018.
BEST Robotics Inc. (BRI) is a non-profit, volunteer-based organization whose mission to engage and excite students about engineering, science, and technology as well as inspire them to pursue careers in these fields.
Through participation in this project-based STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) program, students learn to analyze and solve problems utilizing the Engineering Design Process, which helps them develop technological literacy skills. It is these skills that industry seeks in its workforce.
Each competing team is evaluated in several categories including robot design, performance, aesthetic, team spirit, sportsmanship, marketing and presentation.
Each fall, more than 850 middle and high schools and more than 18,000 students participate in the competition. In both 2017 and 2015 Seaside was named BEST robotics award winner, a title they hope to recapture in 2018.
“We are so excited to be moving on to the South’s BEST regional competition and to represent the state of Florida and the Emerald Coast Hub,” said Seaside Neighborhood School principal Kim Mixson. “This program is an awesome way to include students with a variety of interest in a STEM activity, and I am so very proud of each one of them.”
For more information on Seaside Neighborhood School, call (850) 231-0396 and visit www.seasideschools.net.
Photo credit: Leslie Wood
ABOUT SEASIDE SCHOOL, INC.
Established in 1996, Seaside School, Inc. is one of Florida’s first public charter schools located in Seaside, Florida. Seaside School is one charter school serving students on two campuses: Seaside Neighborhood School (grades 5-8) and Seacoast Collegiate High School (grades 9-12). Seaside School recently was honored by the Florida Department of Education as a “pioneer charter school.” Thanks to a dedicated staff, involved parents, and the support of local businesses and community members, Seaside School is consistently ranked one of the top performing schools in the state of Florida, recognized at the national and state levels for academic achievements. Seaside School is funded in part by Seaside School Foundation, Inc. which produces the highly anticipated annual Seaside Half Marathon and 5K Run each spring.
Photo credit: Leslie Wood
ABOUT SEASIDE SCHOOL, INC.
Established in 1996, Seaside School, Inc. is one of Florida’s first public charter schools located in Seaside, Florida. Seaside School is one charter school serving students on two campuses: Seaside Neighborhood School (grades 5-8) and Seacoast Collegiate High School (grades 9-12). Seaside School recently was honored by the Florida Department of Education as a “pioneer charter school.” Thanks to a dedicated staff, involved parents, and the support of local businesses and community members, Seaside School is consistently ranked one of the top performing schools in the state of Florida, recognized at the national and state levels for academic achievements. Seaside School is funded in part by Seaside School Foundation, Inc. which produces the highly anticipated annual Seaside Half Marathon and 5K Run each spring.
