VCS Robotics

Valley Christian Schools' (VCS) Robotics program is part of the world-wide organization known as FIRST® Robotics, “The Ultimate Sport for the Mind™.” FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a nonprofit organization whose goal is to inspire and educate young people in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

Each year, our teams design, CAD, build, program, and test our robots starting with only a common set of rules to play in a themed, head-to-head challenge.

Our teams also work to develop community partnerships for support, and work to promote STEM in our local community. Valley Christian is proud to feature three robotics teams!

About Us

Our first team was founded in 2008, and we entered our rookie year with only four members.

Since then, VCS Robotics has grown to include two FTC teams - #2844, "Valley X Robotics," our varsity team, and

#12841, "+3 Robotics," our JV team. Our FRC team, #8848,

"Blu CRU" was added in 2022.

We are blessed to be led by our coach, Matt Rainey, and are supported by three parent-mentors and two faculty advisors.

Mr. Rainey

Mr. Madderom

Mr. Ettinger

Mr. Wright

Mr. Headrick

Mrs. Dukes

ftc Teams

FIRST® Tech Challenge (FTC)

2023-2024

#12841

"+3 Robotics"

JV Team

Our Junior Varsity (JV) Team is made up of first and second year Robotics students, between 7th - 12th grades.

#2844

"Valley X Robotics"

Varsity Team

Our Varsity Team is made up of Robotics students who have two or more years of experience with FTC.

frc tEAM

FIRST® Robotics Challenge (FRC)

#8848, “BluCru”

Our FRC team consists of members aged 13+ with at least one season of FTC experience.

This March, the BluCru placed 12th out of 41 teams in the FRC Arizona East Regional.

As captain of the 8th alliance in the semifinals, we fought hard but were eventually eliminated. No ticket to the World competition in Houston, TX this year, but we had a great season and are so proud of everyone’s hard work and dedication. Go BluCru!

Our process

Under construction website page with black and yellow striped borders. Border stripe web. Vector stock illustration.

Fundraising

As you can imagine, Robotics is expensive! To fund our teams, we rely on our gracious sponsors and fundraising efforts. This year we raised over $1,000 from our various fundraising efforts which included designing, and making custom wooden key chains and Christmas ornaments using our laser XTool machine.

Outreach

This year we connected with our community and spread the word about STEM and FIRST® Robotics in numerous ways. When reaching out, we discuss the Engineering Design process and demonstrate our FTC and FRC robots. Some of the events/venues at which we presented include:

Chandler Traditional Academy (CTA) Independence campus’ K-6 STEM classes.
Valley Christian High School’s Homecoming and Senior Night football games.
Arizona Community Church’s annual Country Fair.
The 13th Chandler Innovation Fair.

Connections

We are proud of the connections we made this year with our community.

Next, we connected with our FRC community by helping Gilbert Christian High School start their rookie FRC Team, #9777, Knights of the Lab table. Congratulations on winning the Rookie of the Year award. Enjoy WORLDS!

Finally, we connected with over 9,500 members of our community by educating them and competing in the 13th annual Chandler Innovation Fair (CIF) in downtown Chandler, AZ in February, 2024. We were one of over 145 exhibitors showing creative and unique ways STEM/Science can be FUN! Some of this years sponsors included Northrop Grumman, Intel, NXP, Edwards. WM of Arizona, SRP, ASML, Microchip, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Sundt, Cirrus Logic, WoxEd, and First Things First. We even were one of three who tied for 1st place, winning a very much appreciated (and needed) $500! Thank you to all for allowing us to take part in this fun, educational, and rewarding event! We can’t wait to see you again in 2025!

First, we connected with our Engineering community when we asked Honeywell Aerospace for help in improving our CAD skills. We were thrilled when one of their CAD experts, Mr. Nathan Joslin, Sr. Engineering Designer, visited us and shared his SolidWorks® knowledge with us! Thank you, Mr. Joslin!

Service

Each year we serve the FIRST® Robotics community by hosting the FTC Turquoise Qualifier. On December 1-2, 2023, VCS Robotics enthusiastically hosted the FTC AZ Turquoise Qualifier at our Tempe campus! In all, 32 teams competed for numerous awards. It takes many long hours of preparation, but competition day is always FUN!