Warren Area High School’s VEX Robotics Competition team is writing the code for another successful season.

The only limits at this point are seemingly outside of the team’s control – money to travel to competitions.

Team 52575C- “I Can’t Pronounce That!” has achieved five state-qualifying awards across three tournaments while WAHS team 52575D is working to qualify. Both teams continuously work throughout the season to improve their notebooks, interviews, designs, match strategies and rankings. The boosters solicit sponsorships and are actively seeking sponsors to encourage the Robotics Team’s success due to the costs involved as they continue to advance and qualify for tournaments. The Robotics Club is largely funded by the team itself, including the students’ families and teacher, Arthur Anderson.

“Since the school board launched the competitive robotics program in 2020, it has become a powerful avenue for students interested in STEM to deepen their knowledge and skills,” Anderson told the Times Observer recently. “Support from II4T from the very beginning has been outstanding, and you can see the growth in the students’ abilities through their results. The moment the new challenge was revealed at Worlds 2025, the team immediately began planning their robot and strategy, and that hard work is clearly paying off.”

The type of programming the students are doing has real-world implications for future careers. Much of advanced manufacturing is done writing the types of codes and instructions that the WAHS students are learning through these robotics competitions. Companies are constantly looking for engineers to write code to make their expensive machines create new finished items for sale – furniture, ball bearings, engine components and more.

Robotics competitions can strengthen math and science skills with practical application of concepts learned in the classroom, help teach career and workplace skills like project management, teamwork, communication, and problem-solving skills; and give students a chance to see how they can approach real-world engineering challenges, applications, and opportunities.

Those who want to contribute can send payable to the WAHS VEX ROBOTICS BOOSTERS to WAHS VEX Robotics Boosters, PO Box 24, Warren, PA 16365. In our opinion, it’s a solid investment in team members’ futures.