Darlington Middle hosting Pee Dee qualifier for robotics state championships
Darlington Middle School will transform into a hub for robotics on Saturday when the school hosts the Pee Dee Area Qualifier for the 2016 South Carolina First Lego League State Championships.
Students from five public school districts and one private school who are passionate about science and engineering will participate in the competition. This will be the first time Darlington Middle has been selected to host the Pee Dee Area Qualifier. Florence-Darlington Technical College previously hosted the event at the Southeastern Institute of Manufacturing and Technology.
“We are extremely excited and look forward to having an amazing time,” DMS Principal Eddie Shuler said. “Hopefully, we will continue to host the event each year. We will have a DMS team that will participate in the event. This group has been working since the beginning of the school year to assure it represents our school and district well.”
Two other Darlington County School District schools will send teams to the competition: the Darlington County Institute of Technology and Spaulding Middle School.
Saturday’s competition will begin at 8 a.m. and continue until 3:30 p.m. at Darlington Middle School, which is located at 150 Pine Dale Drive in Darlington.
The Pee Dee Area Qualifier will be one of 15 qualifying competitions held statewide during December and January. The East State Championship will be held Feb. 13 at Carolina Forest High School, and the West State Championship will be held at Easley High School on Feb. 6.
The competitions are sponsored by S.C. First Lego League and Robotics Education Inc. (S.C. FLL), which partners with FIRST LEGO League and Junior FIRST LEGO League in South Carolina, according to the S.C. FLL website. The all-volunteer group’s mission is to “stimulate students’ interest and capabilities in STEM fields, thereby increasing the pool of talented and skilled students who pursue careers in these areas.” For more information about S.C. FLL, visit scrobitics.org.
The teams that will compete at the Pee Dee Area Qualifier on Saturday include:
· Darlington Middle (The Ninja-neers)
· Spaulding Middle (Spaulding Tigers)
· Darlington County Institute of Technology (Technivators)
· Williams Middle (Williams Middle School)
· Henry L. Sneed Middle (Sneed)
· Delmae Elementary (Delma Robo Recyclers)
· North Vista Elementary (Tigerbots)
· Trinity-Byrnes Collegiate School (TBCS Team 1 and TBCS Team 2)
· Aynor Middle (Aynor Blue Bots)
· Alice Drive Middle (STEMBOTICS)
· Heath Springs Elementary (Robo-Hornets)
· A.R. Rucker Elementary (A.R. Rucker Middle School)
Please join us for this exceptional day of scientific and engineering exploration and friendly competition at Darlington Middle School. For more information, contact the Darlington County School District’s Office of Communications at 843-398-2284.
