Montgomery, Ala. – March 7, 2019 – TechMGM, Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce’s initiative to connect and leverage Montgomery’s unique technology assets, provided hands-on STEM experiences to 200 students at the annual CampIT held on March 1, 2019 at Alabama State University. Sessions on cloud computing, cybersecurity, website design, robotics and more were given by industry leaders for students to learn, participate and engage in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) and Information Technology activities. This year’s event also featured an announcement by Alabama State University, the hosting educational institution of the upcoming Montgomery BEST Robotics Competition to be held from October 18-19, 2019.

“Montgomery has a growing tech community, and we believe we can get students interested and prepared for these job opportunities at an early age through programs like CampIT and the BEST Robotics Competition,” says Charisse Stokes, executive director of TechMGM. “We have received great feedback on the camp and BEST competition and believe these fun events will excite students about a future in the tech industry.”

BEST, which stands for Boosting Engineering, Science, and Technology, is a national program in its 26th year and aims to initiate robotics programs at no cost in middle and high schools. The Montgomery BEST Robotics Competition will host up to 24 schools from the River Region and central Alabama area. BEST is successful because of its emphasis on student and team involvement and for encouraging creative thinking, problem solving and goal-directed learning. Students got a sneak peek into the competition at this weekend’s event, as they were able to interact with a robot used in the 2018 BEST Robotics Competition.

“Seeing robots that were made for the BEST competition at CampIT was exciting and made me want to participate in this year’s competition,” says Will Owen, 8th grade student at Trinity Presbyterian School.

This fall, teams participating in Montgomery’s BEST Robotics Competitions will build robots that task students with the same design challenges, time and material constraints and competitive pressure that real-world engineers face. The game’s theme reflects issues in today’s world that robotics could potentially solve. This year’s game, Off the Grid, is designed by BEST Robotics in partnership with Texas Instruments. Details of the game and the tasks each team’s robot must complete will be released to schools six weeks before the competition.
For more information, about the Montgomery BEST Robotics Competition, visit www.mgmbest.com

Editor’s Note: For high-resolution photos, visit http://bit.ly/mgmbestrobotics

ABOUT TECHMGM
TechMGM is a collaboration of local industry, educational and government entities working together to connect and leverage Montgomery, Alabama’s unique technology related assets. This initiative is designed to maximize the community’s diverse technology talent pipeline and promote the city as an emerging and innovative technology hub to enhance the workforce and grow the regional economy. Montgomery’s unique combination of partners have invested in critical tech infrastructure, including contributions from federal, state and local government, educational institutions and the local business community’s large corporations and small and non-traditional businesses. These collaborations have led to the development of the powerful Montgomery Internet Exchange (MGMix) and the implementation of fiber infrastructure throughout the city that will lead to even more smart city-based initiatives.
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Media Contacts:
Meg Lewis
Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce
[email protected]
334.312.2007