Community Update

Masuk Robotics Hosts Regional Competition

Masuk High School’s Robotics team will host its Second Annual VEX Robotics Qualifier on Saturday, Dec. 7, 8 am to 5 pm. Forty teams from high schools and middle schools throughout New England will compete in this year’s Toss Up! challenge to qualify for the Connecticut State Championships.

“We are excited to welcome high school robotics students and coaches to Monroe,” said Bill McDonough, coach of Masuk High School’s Robotics team. “Last year Masuk Robotics hosted its first home tournament and it was a great success. We’ve expanded the number of schools in attendance and anticipate having a busy, productive day.”

Team and robot inspections begin at 8 am. The drivers’ meeting and ranking rounds begin at 9 am, and the alliance round is expected to start at 1 pm. The awards ceremony is 4 pm.

Lunch, snacks and beverages will be available for purchase. 

McDonough said, “Our robotics’ teams are looking forward to demonstrating their engineering and robotics’ skills. Families are invited to stop by and check out all of the hard work and effort Monroe’s students have put into this year’s challenge.”

Last month Masuk’s Vexsplosive team won the Excellence Award for best overall robot performance at the South Windsor VEX Robotics Qualifier. Team members are Kevin Grabowski, Reed Grabowski, Rishul Marwah, Thomas Culp, Ryan Iken, Justin Sadownick, Julia D’Agostino, Spencer Dai, Sarah Grabowski, Arkin Mukherjee, Connor Feeney, Kanu Caplash and Anthony Piscitelli.  

Vexsplosive was ranked in the top 20 at the end of the ranking round. They finished second in the driver skills’ challenge and third overall in the robot skills challenge.

Masuk’s So Vexxy It Hurts was ranked fourth at the end of the ranking round, McDonough added.

So Vexxy It Hurts’ team members are Michael Massar, Chris Massar, Emily Hammer, Joe Pires, Colin Dablain, Neil McCarter, Ryan Tedesco, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Kyle Grabowski.

“It was a good day for us,” McDonough stated. “Four out of six teams from Masuk were chosen to compete in the alliance round and five of six robots were ranked in the top 30 at the end of the ranking round.”

McDonough and Assistant Coach Mike Cercone were pleased with Masuk’s performance in South Windsor.

“Every team worked hard on their robots, scouting, making alliances and friendships that I hope we continue to develop over the course of the season,” McDonough said. “I am very proud of all of our teams and how they represented Masuk Robotics.”