Beginning back in December 2023, 14 Mercaz Academy fourth and fifth graders, bursting with excitement, competed in the elementary division of the CIJE Robotics League Tournament. It was the culmination of months of hard work in which the extracurricular Robotics Club spent one or more recesses each week working together to build robots for the tournament under the guidance of Director of Educational Technology Lynda Last.
On Wednesday, April 10, the members of the Robotics Club returned to the field once more to compete in the final CIJE Inter-Yeshiva Robotics League Tournament’s event for the year. This time, the event was held at Manhattan Day School and was entirely devoted to the elementary school category, so the Mercaz teams would not be sharing the floor with middle- and high schoolers as before. They knew that they would be operating on a different “field,” with updated tasks, and there may have been some nervousness as they entered the competition hall.
The event was fast-paced and stressed cooperation, with the five Mercaz teams collaborating and competing with 82 teams from other schools at each round. They hopped from match to match, and some were surprised to encounter old friends from camp, as competitor schools arrived from as far away as Pittsburgh. The Robotics Team was delighted to discover that this time, each match allowed an opportunity to be awarded badges for outstanding robot design, how effectively students were able to maneuver through tasks and sportsmanship, with both teammates and other school teams. As the Mercaz teams moved through their 30 individual matches, they racked up badges – and accumulated many points. They were delighted to see Mercaz rising through the ranks with each match. In fact, they started to wonder: Would they be among the final three?
“Towards the end of the last match, we thought we had third place; but it was hard to believe, because there were so many bigger schools,” said one Mercaz fifth grader. “Our school was the only one there that didn’t have a middle school or high school, and there were lots of good teams.”
As the first place (Yavneh Academy, Paramus, NJ) and second place (SAR, Riverdale, NY) winners were announced, it seemed impossible – but the final school on the podium was Mercaz Academy.
Congratulations to Mercaz Academy’s successful Robotics Club and to Mrs. Last. The Robotics Club can’t wait to come back to compete in next year’s tournament!
