Smithtown Hosts SCOPE Robotics Camp For Summer Learning

SMITHTOWN, NY — The SCOPE Robotics two-week camp culminated recently with some friendly VEX robotics competitions, the Smithtown Central School District announced.

Eighth and ninth graders built their robots from scratch, coded them, troubleshooted any issues and then squared off in a fun soccer-style game.

Adviser Connor Kelly said he loved watching the passion from the young campers.

"They've been working together trying to figure things out, and if something goes wrong, they don’t get frustrated," Kelly said. "They're like, 'OK how do we fix it?' They want to be challenged."

Beyond science and engineering principles, VEX Robotics solutions encourage creativity, teamwork, leadership, passion and problem-solving among groups.

Younger campers engaged in Lego robotics activities, where they had two-and-a-half minutes to complete as many missions as they could with robots they designed. The students worked in teams under the guidance of Melannie Hill and former High School East student and Team 810 Vice President, Jessica Sucharski.

Team names were Shark Swimmers, Smart Sharks, Lone Sharks, Orcas, Deep Sea Carrots and Sigma Submarines.