It was an historical day on Friday February 15th as Kinsale Community School qualified for the World VEX Robotics Competition in Kentucky for the second time. KCS also represented Ireland at the world event in 2018 where they picked up the prestigious Community Award.
VEX Robotics is a programme which enables students to learn about Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) through designing, building, programming and competing with their robot in competitions organised by DELL EMC.
The World Championship Qualifier took place at Cork Institite of Technology with twenty two teams from across Ireland competing at the event. Competition was fierce as each team vied to win the much coveted place to compete in the world event in Kentucky later this year. In order to qualify the KCS team had to win the overall tournament plus a number of other categories.
The enthusiasm and skill for robotics displayed by KCS was clearly evident as they entered two teams in the competition this year. It was a nail biting final as both KCS teams battled it out as opponents in the final of the tournament.
It was a highly successful day and KCS emerged victorious receiving five awards including:
1. Excellence Award
2. Tournament Award
3. Design Award
4. Coding and Driving Skills Award
5. Volunteer Award [Presented to Ms Niamh Hay]

The Irish Championship commences in March and regional events will be hosted in Institutes of Technology. KCS is proud to announce that it will also host one of these regional events.
The team has been mentored throughout by Miss Niamh Hay and Mr Eddie Farren with advice and support from Mr Adrian McLaughlin from DELL EMC.
The team have now secured their place to represent Ireland at the global event in Kentucky USA in the coming months. Now they will need to undertake a massive fund raising exercise and are appealing for sponsorship to help get them there.