Chandler’s Valley Christian High School wins robotics world championship

“Valley X”, a robotics team from Valley Christian High School in Chandler, took home the world championship at the 2015 FIRST FTC Championships recently held in St. Louis, Missouri.

This was Valley Christian’s fifth appearance in the world championships.

To advance to St. Louis for the world championship, “Valley X” won the regional/state competition in order to advance to super regionals held in Oakland. Despite finishing as the runner-up at super regionals, “Valley X” was still able to advance to St. Louis, where they competed against 127 other teams from around the world.

“This is an unprecedented accomplishment for our school,” Valley Christian Principal Dan Kuiper said. “We could not be more proud of what this team accomplished this season. It is a testament to their hard work, teamwork, determination, and resourcefulness.”

Robots entered in the competition compete in a two and half minute challenge, with the first 30 seconds of the demonstration being controlled by only the robot. Points are awarded based on the successful completion of tasks.

Warren Campbell, James Turensky, David Gasson, AJ Bierly, Michelle Pomerenke, Chape Shiel, Luciano Cappellano, Justin Ree and Wyatt Halchishick were members of the winning “Valley X” team. Valley Christian faculty member Nick Bacon headed up the team alongside team mentors Paul Bierly, Bob Gasson, Laurie Rainey and Matthew Rainey.