By Kelsey McDonald

For the Enquirer

The robotics team at Hartselle Junior High School has advanced two robots to the state competition.

The Hartselle bots will compete at state March 3 in Gadsden after receiving the Excellence Award at two competitions in January. The Excellence Award, the highest award presented in robotics competition, is given to the best team that demonstrates overall excellence in their robotics program and is a strong contender for multiple award categories.

At the HJHS’ first competition in January against Hazel Green, team members competed against 44 other teams in the area to qualify their first robot for the state competition and received the prestigious Excellence Award. The team competed against both high school and middle school teams and has qualified two of only five junior high robots that will be going to the state competition.

Since only five junior high robots have qualified, HJHS will be competing against mostly high school robotics teams in the state competition.

“I’m really excited about the opportunity to compete at state because the best teams in the state will be there,” said Emma Maxson, an eighth-grader who builds robots for the team. “Since there are only five middle school robots going to state, and two of those are from Hartselle, we have a good chance of being paired up and winning an award – which could qualify us for the world competition.”

Hartselle’s robotics program has 45 students involved; 35 of those students compete, using nine robots.

“I love being the mentor and coach for the robotics team because these are the most fabulous kids you will ever meet,” said Caroline Weems, the team’s coach and mentor. “They are so dedicated; they are great at problem solving; they are smart; and they have such a great ability to learn from each other and learn to work together.”

The team will have one more competition before state to prepare and try to qualify one more robot, Feb. 24 in Anniston.