Middle school robotics team has eyes set on international tournament

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - A group of six boys from a Kansas City middle school robotics team will soon be heading to Dallas to compete in an international competition.

The Barry Middle School Scrappers recently took home the title of Missouri State Champions at the VEX Robotics tournament.

That state title in Jefferson City earned the group an automatic bid to the World Championship in Dallas, Texas.

Now, the team of seventh and eighth graders, along with their coaches, are looking to foot the bill, setting up a GoFundMe .

“We’ve been doing robotics here at Barry for about 10 years,” said robotics coach Jennifer Morelock. “The teams keep growing. We get more students interested. We’ll be in Dallas, and it is all day, 12 hours a day for three days. The students work every day during our homeroom time. That is about 45 minutes every morning and then we’re after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays for about an hour. We spend around seven hours a week practicing.”

“We’re pretty excited,” said team member Chase French. “We’re pretty impressed that we’ve gotten this far, especially winning state. This robotics program is focused around finding a solution to a problem. This year, we’re trying to get yellow disks into disk golf baskets. We’re trying to raise money to get hotel rooms, food, and resources. We have about $500 in there. We’re trying to reach $3,000. We didn’t think we’d make it this far, but we’re really impressed with ourselves that we’ve made it all the way to the World Championship.”

The team will begin competition at the VEX Robotics World Championship on April 27.

To find the link to donate to the Scappers’ GoFundMe , you can click here.

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