Coláiste Cholmcille took part in the North West VEX Robotics competition on Friday which was held in the Atlantic Technological University, Letterkenny. We are delighted and very proud to announce that our Robotics team came out on top and were crowned the Northwest Regional Champions, having beaten off stiff opposition from 12 other school teams throughout the day of competition. Schools pitted their Robot design and builds, programming and control skills, communication and teamwork in head to head robotic challenges through 8 qualifiers games, then a semi-final and final where winners progressed based on points scored throughout the timed challenges.
Coláiste Cholmcille’s team of Cara Davitt, Fódhla Sheerin, Niamh Burke and Jamie McManus have worked hard on their design, robot build and programming over the last four months and all their hard work and skill level paid dividends on Friday after performing to an exceptional level winning ten challenges from ten and being crowned the North West Champions. Their teacher/mentor John Kennedy stated that the result is even more astounding considering this is the school’s first year of entry and they competed against experienced schools.
The competition fosters development of teamwork, critical thinking and project management and their alliance with Pobailscoil Gaoth Dobhair in the semi and finals was a very good strategic move with both teams now progressing to the All-Ireland finals in Cork on the 23rd February to compete for a chance to represent Ireland on the global stage in Texas later in the year. We wish them well and are very proud of their achievements to date.
 The Robotics team would like to thank John Conaghan, Gary Cullen and the ATU Donegal for all their work in hosting a very well run event. Third year students Fiachra McGee and Shayne Lucas who accompanied the team to the competition for experience are now looking forward to entering their own team next year.