Being a parent is all about amazing highs and, sometimes, horrible lows. But on occasion there are those special events in life that transcend all others. Ill be savoring every second of one of those moments with my son, Nic, Saturday when he will be competing with his VEX Robotics team for a state title at Fairmont State University.

Nic is a member of the VEX Robotics program from his school, Westwood Middle School in Monongalia County. There are 20 kids who participate, most of whom are sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders, but all of them are seriously beyond brilliant. The 20 are split into three different teams, each with their own unique name and personality. Nics team is the Classical Mechanics. The other two are SteamBotics and Cabin 9.

I have no idea what the significance of each team is. But what I do know is each team is made up of some very serious competitors who have their own personality built into their made-from-scratch VEX robot.

For those of you who dont know, Vex Robotics leverages what I would call the coolness of robotics, and the excitement of head-to-head competition to inspire and engage students.

Students literally walk through the design process and build a mobile robot to play a sport-like competition. During this process, they learn key STEM principles, and robotics concepts. STEM is an acronym for science, technology, engineering and math education.

VEX is one of several robotics initiatives supported by the West Virginia Robotics Alliance, located at the NASA Independent Verification and Validation Program in Fairmont. Other robotic programs happening in West Virginia are the Junior FIRST LEGO League, FIRST LEGO League, FIRST Tech Challenge, FIRST Robotics Competition, VEX IQ, VEX Robotics Competition, Vex U, Skills USA and Zero Robotics.

The game for the 2016-17 VEX Robotics Competition year is called Starstruck. Starstruck is played on a 12x12 square field. Two alliances, one red and one blue, composed of two teams each, compete in matches consisting of a 15 second autonomous period followed by one minute and 45 seconds of driver-controlled play. The object of the game is to attain a higher score than the opposing alliance by scoring your stars and cubes in your zones and by hanging robots on your hanging bar.

The teams from Westwood Middle School are coached by Michelle Farley and her husband, Richard. Michelle teaches seventh grade Reading/ Language Arts at Westwood and has been involved with robotics for eight years, two of which participated in VEX.

I coached FIRST Lego League for six years, she said. I mentored a FIRST Tech Challenge team when Ben (her son) was old enough for it. So we competed in dual programs for two years. We made the switch to VEX last year.

Certainly, the switch has paid off. Nics team, the Classical Mechanics, is ranked third in the entire state. They even won a coveted tournament championship title at the recent VEX Robotics Regional Tournament held at the Advanced Technology Center in South Charleston.

A few weeks earlier, they competed in a similar regional tournament at the Robert H. Mollohan Research Facility in Fairmont. They remained third through the entire event, losing in the final match against an aggressive high school team from Wayne County.

By the way, out of the 35 to 40 VEX Robotics teams from 19 schools across the state, the three from Westwood are the youngest to compete.

On Saturday, the best in the state will converge on Fairmont State Universitys Falcon Center, where teams will compete to represent the state at the VEX Robotics World Championship. Now entering its 10th year, the competition will bring together the top 1,400 student-led robotics teams from around the world to Louisville, KY, on April 19-25.

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John Dahlia - Good News - State VEX Robotics Tournament on Saturday will be unique father-son experience - The Exponent Telegram (press release)...