On the beautiful state-of-the-art campus in Coconut Creek FL, future tech entrepreneurs brought their A-game to the South Florida Jewish Day Schools Robotics Competition, a global robotics program that turns learning into an adventure of innovation and teamwork.
This year SFJA entered three teams. Each team was presented with four tests: the mission board, the mechanical challenge, the programming challenge, and the innovation project.
The mission board is the main event. Students spend weeks designing, building and programming robots to encounter missions on a four-foot by eight-foot board. Each team has two- and one-half minutes to accumulate as many points as they can by solving as many missions as they can.
The mechanical and programming challenges bring out the best in team work. The judges present each team with scenarios that they have never seen. They must work together, program their robots and design and build a solution within the time limit.
For the innovation project, our students generated ideas before selecting one to develop. Then they shared a creative presentation to a panel of judges. The Upper Elementary Girls designed an “Everything Proof Robotic Wall” to protect Israel’s borders. The Middle School Girls designed a “robotic fishing net” that prevents overfishing and protects endangered species. The Middle School Boys designed an “autonomous robotic patrol boat and submarine” to enforce fishing regulations 24/7.
This competition brings out the best in the students. It helped them learn how to overcome challenges, and put aside their egos for the greater good. They also saw how their academic studies can be put to work to make Israel safer and the ecosystem more robust.
This year, our students made us incredibly proud at the regional robotics competition:
* The Upper Elementary School girls won First Place Overall—the highest honor of the entire event! Outperforming 10 other South Florida schools
* The Middle School/High School girls earned First Place for Innovation, recognizing their creativity and problem-solving.
* The Middle School/High School boys took First Place for Superior Robotics Performance on the mission board. They won two years in a row!
Join Our SFJA Family
Housed on a beautiful, modern campus, SFJA is known for its exceptional blend of limudei kodesh and secular studies, small class sizes, and individualized attention.
For more information about our school, enrollment, or to schedule a tour, visit floridajewishacademy.org or contact our front office 954-427-7788.
What a special school! SFJA shows such genuine ahavas Yisroel and dedication to each and every child. After transferring our son from a much larger school, we saw an immediate change—he comes home happy, excited, and proud of what he’s learning. The small class sizes, the chassidishe atmosphere, and the personal attention have helped him grow in both yiras Shamayim and academics. What’s just as special is the diversity—children from all backgrounds come together here in true achdus. It gives our son a real sense of community and teaches him how to work with and respect every kind of Jew.… Read more »