A primary school from the Finn Valley has made history at the VEX IQ Robotics World Championship in St Louis, Missouri, finishing as the second highest scoring European team across the entire competition.
Dromore National School, Killygordon, competed against 85 teams from across the world in the Technology division and finished in 30th place with an average score of 223.88 points and a best single match score of 357.
It is believed to be the highest score and highest finishing position ever achieved by an Irish team in the history of the VEX IQ World Championship.
The road to St Louis began in Letterkenny, where Dromore NS claimed victory at the regional VEX IQ Teamwork Challenge. That win set the team on course for the All-Ireland Championships at Munster Technological University in Cork, the main national competition and the gateway to the World Championship.
In Cork, Dromore NS joined forces with Rosenallis National School from County Laois in the Teamwork Challenge and the two schools produced a stunning performance together, finishing as national Teamwork Champions with a score of 221 points. It was one of the highest scores recorded at the national final that day, surpassing scores from a number of secondary school teams.
That victory secured their place at the World Championship in St Louis.
Ireland sent five schools to St Louis in total. Dromore NS were joined by St Mary’s National School from Castlefinn, as well as Rosenallis NS from County Laois, Gaelscoil an Ráithín from Limerick and CBS Ennis from County Clare.
Dromore NS and Rosenallis NS both earned their place by winning the national Teamwork Challenge together as alliance partners in Cork. The other three schools, St Mary’s NS Castlefinn, Gaelscoil an Ráithín and CBS Ennis, qualified through awards presented at the national championships, which also carry spots to the World Championship.
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The scale of the competition in St Louis was unlike anything the Killygordon team had faced before, with the event bringing together 418 teams across five divisions, drawn from countries including China, Singapore, the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea, India, Thailand and many more.
The top of the Technology division was dominated by Chinese academy teams, elite North American programmes and well-resourced Singaporean outfits, many of whom have been competing at World level for several seasons.
Against that backdrop, Dromore NS produced a composed and competitive performance, recording a best match score of 357 and finishing 30th out of 85 teams.
When the scores of all European teams competing across all five divisions in St Louis are ranked together, Dromore NS come out as the second highest scoring European team in the whole championship. A total of six European countries were represented across the five divisions, with Ireland, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Poland, Germany and France all sending teams to St Louis.
Only a Polish school, SP_407_Warsaw, finished ahead of them, averaging 224.75 points to Dromore’s 223.88 – with less than a point separating the two.
Ireland’s teams dominated the European standings in the Arts division, where St Mary’s NS Castlefinn finished 50th, Gaelscoil an Ráithín 52nd and CBS Ennis 60th, all ahead of the only other European Arts team, a French school in 71st.
Rosenallis NS from Laous finished 60th in Engineering but won the prestigious Judges’ Award, one of only five such awards given across the entire competition of over 400 teams. The judges recognised not just their performance on the field but the extraordinary story behind the team, as it is a four-classroom school with just 74 pupils in a small rural village.
Their raising of over €100,000 in a matter of days so they could travel to St Louis and compete against the best schools in the world was a story that clearly resonated with the judging panel, who cited their outstanding energy, spirit and the remarkable journey they had made to get there.
Although a few of the games didn’t go their way in the finals, the team and the wider Killygordon community have every reason to be very proud of what they have achieved, going from winning their regional competition in Letterkenny all the way to finishing as the second-highest scoring European team, and recording what is believed the be the highest-ever score by an Irish team at the VEX IQ World Championship.
For a small DEIS school from a rural border community in County Donegal to do it against fully funded academies from Shanghai, Singapore, Canada and beyond makes it all the more special.
