Osseo Area Schools ISD 279: Osseo Robotics Teams Compete At State Tournament

Press release from the Osseo Area Schools ISD 279:

March 10, 2022

Four teams from Osseo Middle School (OMS) and Osseo Senior High School (OSH) competed at the VEX State Robotics tournament in St. Cloud on March 3-4. One team, the Osseo Mechanical Mayhem, finished runner-up and qualified for the world championships.

The Osseo robotics team is coached by John Licciardi. All of the middle school participants were new to robotics this year, and three new high school teams competed in the 2021-22 season as well.

“I am very proud of the work all of these teams put in. But it’s just not the four teams that got to state; we had four more teams that poured their soul into their robot as well. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose; that is why I love competition through activities and athletics so much,” Licciardi said.

OMS had two teams qualify for the state tournament. Espoir Missite, Noah Evers, Grant Vivatson and Max Lemke compete on Team 279B, the “Osseo Mechanical Mayhem.” Team 279A, also known as the “Osseo Young-guns,” is made up of Cruz Urbina, Wyatt Lindell, Ronan Caudill and Amogh Patil.

Two of the robotics teams from OSH also qualified for the state tournament. Oscar Bohn, Brendan Gilbert, Owen Grismer, Sam Larsen-Johnson and Mason Perusse compete on Team 2845B, the “Osseo Freshbots.” Team 2845A, also known as the “Osseo Benchwarmers,” is made up of Brady Quan, John Jelatis, Rachel Evers and Lainey Oliphant.

“I do think that the popularity of robotics is increasing, and I am proud to represent along with these kids that love to work with their hands, apply math and coding principles to turn a few random parts into a functioning tangible mechanism in order to accomplish a task,” Licciardi said. “I know I may be biased, but I truly feel that Career and Technical Education skills combined with Engineering courses supplement learning in these areas so that our kids have a chance to succeed now and into the future.”

The teams from OMS and OSH competed against the top 60 teams in the state for a chance to qualify for the VEX world championships in Dallas at the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center on May 3-5 .

“Each one of our Osseo teams did all of the work themselves; each decision, each assembly is all theirs and they deserve all of the credit,” Licciardi stated.

For more information on the VEX Robotics world championship, visit their website.

This press release was produced by the Osseo Area Schools ISD 279. The views expressed here are the author’s own.