Charles County Public Schools students excelled at the Southern Maryland VEX IQ Tournament held January 24, 2026, at the College of Southern Maryland in La Plata, with 16 CCPS teams competing and several earning top honors and advancement to the state level.
The event featured elementary and middle school teams participating in the VEX IQ program, a competitive robotics initiative designed for younger students. Teams tackled the Rapid Relay challenge on a compact six-inch by eight-inch rectangular field, where two allied robots collaborated in 60-second teamwork matches to score points through coordinated tasks.
Four CCPS teams secured qualification for the Maryland VEX IQ Robotics Competition state tournament scheduled for February 28, 2026, at South Hagerstown High School in Hagerstown. Those advancing include Team 31890A, Team 31890B, and Team 31890C—all RoboHuskies from Dr. Thomas L. Higdon Elementary School in Charles County—and Team 67840A, the Robot Masters from Benjamin Stoddert Middle School. Notably, Stoddert’s Team 67840A and Higdon’s Team 31890C ranked among the highest in the state for robot skills performance.
Team 31890C from Higdon Elementary consists of fourth graders Toryn Berger, Jaxon Drake, and Rose Terlecki, along with fifth graders Elizabeth Bowling-Cook, David Kelley, and Samuel Zacarias.
Five CCPS teams received special awards recognizing various aspects of their performance and spirit:
- Team 31890B, the RoboHuskies from Dr. Thomas L. Higdon Elementary, claimed the Tournament Champions title, awarded to the team achieving the highest score in robot matches. Members are fourth graders Elizabeth Bridgewater, Dakota Wagner, and Drake Welch, plus fifth graders Logan Cave and Garrett Hales.
- Team 31890A, also RoboHuskies from Higdon, earned the Design Award for the most effective and efficient robot design, demonstrated through their engineering design notebook. Team members include fourth graders Caleb Buzby, Jazmyne La Point, Anna Riffle, and Luke Tarleton, and fifth graders Grayson Owens and Jack Wheeler.
Higdon Elementary’s VEX IQ teams receive coaching from Jacob Gerding, the school’s media specialist, and community volunteer Darrell T. Bramer.
- Team 59351B, the Green Eagles from William A. Diggs Elementary School, was presented the Judges Award for exemplary effort and perseverance. The team features third graders Parker Akai and Gabriel Alcones; fourth graders Bryan Chapman and Juan Lopez; and fifth graders Cameron Charles and Emmanuel Young. Khammari Hemsley, an instructional assistant at Diggs, serves as coach.
- Team 9041A, the Wade Wildcats from Wade Elementary School, received the Inspire Award, given to the team that demonstrated passion, integrity, and goodwill while often overcoming challenges to achieve goals. Members are third grader Aleiyah Armstrong and fifth graders Isabella Pacheco, Rachael Genson, Zahran Sheikh, Willa Watney, and Nell Martin. Christina Day, a science teacher at Wade, coaches the team.
- Team 67840A, the Robot Masters from Benjamin Stoddert Middle School, won the Build Award for a strong, well-crafted robot. The team comprises eighth graders Oluwanjoba Grace Niranoluwa, Adrian Loza, Toni Cannon, and Kristiana Bulos. Hector Telford, a science teacher at Stoddert, coaches them.
These accomplishments highlight the growing strength of robotics education in Charles County Public Schools, where students from elementary through middle school levels engage in hands-on STEM challenges that build engineering, programming, and teamwork skills. The Southern Maryland tournament, hosted at the College of Southern Maryland’s La Plata campus, drew regional participation and served as a key qualifier for state-level competition.
