Hazelwood Elementary/Middle School dedicated a portion of the Heart of the School Fund grant in fall 2023 to assist the school's robotics club. Principal Rice recognizes the importance of STEM programs for students and highlights the need for early preparation to ensure their readiness for life and the workforce. She strives to provide various school activities and educational programs to shape students holistically.

The Heart of the Schools interviewed Ms. Cherry Amata, Hazelwood’s robotics coach and STEM coordinator, to learn more about the program, the school’s recent competitions, and the upcoming tournaments.

“We had two teams compete at the VEX VRC Johns Hopkins Cup and emerged victorious over high school teams from around Baltimore City. Hazelwood RoboOwls played four qualifying matches to advance to the quarterfinals, secured a win in the semifinals, and demonstrated outstanding performance in the finals. In the ultimate showdown against Poly and Mervo, Hazelwood claimed the 2nd place after a challenging game. Our team also excelled in the Skills Challenge, earning us the title of Robot Skills CHAMPION Award with the highest combined score in the Programming Skills Challenge and Driving Skills Challenge.”

On January 27th, Hazelwood's VEX IQ teams showcased their skills at the Johns Hopkins Robotics Cup. After participating in three challenging qualifying matches and interviews with judges, Hazelwood successfully advanced to the playoffs. The middle school RoboOwls performed exceptionally well, securing 1st place and earning the Champion title in the middle school division, surpassing 41 other teams. In the elementary category, competing against 42 teams, Hazelwood was honored with the Design Award. This award recognizes the team's thorough documentation of their Engineering Design Process in an Engineering Notebook. As a result of this achievement, they qualify to participate in the VEX Robotics State Championship in Hagerstown on Feb. 24th.

At the CEO Cup on February 3rd, Hazelwood's RoboOwls were involved in six intense qualifying matches and ultimately advanced to the finals. During interviews, the RoboOwls impressed the judges by effectively defending their engineering notebook and providing thorough explanations about their robots. At the end of the tournament, they were recognized with the CEO Cup trophy and three awards: the
Excellence Award, the highest honor at the robotics championship, for overall excellence in constructing a high-quality robot; the Judges
Award, for displaying special attributes, exemplary effort, and perseverance; and the Design Award, acknowledging Team 80018A for their documentation skill and Team Interview.

The dedication of the students to their team and competitions is truly inspiring. Ms. Amata shares:

“The VEX IQ elementary and middle school teams practice in the morning, in the afternoon, during lunchtime and, sometimes, when we go to championship some of my students, if they do not think that the robot is perfect, [have us] stay [at school] until 7:00 o’clock! And I’m already exhausted! And they say [to me], ‘Ms. Amata we want to win, we want to win!’”

In talking about her students, the robotics coach sang their praises:

“We have amazing students at Hazelwood. Just so you know, we specifically serve underprivileged kids; our school is a Title I school. You can see their dedication through their hard work because they want to demonstrate to Baltimore that they have a place here and are capable of winning”.

On February 24th, the RoboOwls participated in the 2024 Maryland Vex IQ State Championship for Elementary and Middle School Levels, a qualification for the Worlds Championship. On March 9th, the Hazelwood VEX VRC team took part in the Maryland State Championship and achieved 6th place. On March 11th, both middle school VRC teams travelled to Iowa for the National Robotics Championship as the only representatives of Baltimore City competing against teams from across the US, Canada, China, and Kazakhstan. This event convened 134 teams from the US and marked the team's first national competition. Despite facing formidable opponents, they clinched the 41st position following three days of demanding robotics challenges. Furthermore, the Hazelwood Robo-Owls have been invited to partake in Robotics Demo Day with the Senate AI Caucus on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, at the Senate Office Building. Additionally, they will compete at the VEX Robotics Worlds Championship on April 28-30 in Dallas, Texas, where they will stand as the sole middle school representatives from Baltimore City among 498 teams worldwide.

Six times a year, the Heart of the School Fund provides grants to Baltimore City Public School principals to support projects that enhance their school buildings, their students’ learning, and their staff’s growth. To read about additional Heart of the School Fund grants, click here.