The Lexington One Educational Foundation recognized winners of a new grant program to support robotics.

Totaling $18,000, this inaugural round of funding benefits students at 9 schools.

“Recently our Foundation board members learned about the amazing things happening in our district through some of the school robotics teams,” said Educational Foundation Chair Simeon Bryant.

“In an effort to provide some seed money to all of our schools, the board allocated $18,000 to robotics teams for the 2018–2019 school year.”

Foundation Executive Director Julie Anderson Washburn sent out a request for proposals to all Lexington District 1 schools. A committee of robotics team experts selected the winning schools.

All schools that applied for robotics grant funds received full or partial funding.

Winners of the 2018–2019 Robotics Grants include:

• Forts Pond Elementary — Teacher Sponsor Lizzy Siceloff and Principal Michelle Smith

• Gilbert Middle — Teacher Sponsor David Chestnut and Principal Benji Ricard

• Lexington Middle — Teacher Sponsors Lois Byars, Ben Godfrey and Ivey Homer and Principal Gloria Nester

• Lexington Technology Center/Lexington High — Teacher Sponsor Brian Little, PH.D., LTC Director Bryce Myers and LHS Principal Melissa Rawl

• Pelion Middle — Teacher Sponsor John Leneschmidt and Principal Kailanya Brailey

• Pleasant Hill Middle — Teacher Sponsor Lori Lambert and Principal Thomas Rivers, Jr., PH.D.

• River Bluff High — Teacher Sponsors Westley Crocker and Shirley Waldy and Principal Luke Clamp, ED.D.

• White Knoll High — Teacher Sponsor Cory Summerall and Principal Ted Daughtrey

• White Knoll Middle — Teacher Sponsor Alan Lominick and Principal Guy Smith

Elementary and middle school teams, with the exception of WKMS, will compete in FIRST LEGO League competitions. WKMS and the three high school teams compete in VEX Robotics competitions.

Students participating in the robotics teams learn about collaboration, teamwork, public speaking, engineering design, computational thinking, range of motion, simple machines – all of which are valuable skills to future employers.