Local Students On Robotics Team

Some local students are members of the Fernbank LINKS robotics team that will participate in the Dec. 3 BEST (Boosting Engineering Science & Technology) Robotics competition at Auburn University.

They are Katharine Walls, an Avondale Estates resident and a sophomore at Paideia; Decatur High sophomore Solveig Olson-Strom; and Vish Korukonda, who lives in Avondale Estates and is a freshman at Druid Hills High.

The Fernbank team members attend public and private schools or are home schooled. They advanced by winning first places in two categories recently at the Georgia BEST competition at Southern Polytechnic State University. 

According to a press release from the DeKalb County School System:

BEST Robotics has over 700 participating middle and high schools nationwide. The competition features the “game” where the students build a radio controlled robot in six weeks that will complete a series of challenges in a three-minute period.

Parallel to the “game” is the BEST Competition, where teams compete as “corporations” with several judging categories including T-shirt design, presentation to judges, web site design, exhibit, spirit and sportsmanship.

The first time Fernbank LINKS participated in BEST was with a group of students from Lakeside High School in 2004. We had a Scottish theme and dressed in kilts. Our robot was named "Scottie," and Liam Rattray was the student leader that year.

In memory of Liam, who was tragically killed by a drunk driver in May of this year, we named our robot "Scottie Junior," and in that spirit, we included plaid in our overall theme.

For information about the competition, go to the LINKS and BEST websites.