Two NPS students set to compete in SkillsUSA Competition

NORFOLK, Neb. -- Norfolk Public Schools announced via press release that two students will be competing at the National SkillsUSA Competition this year.

John Mann and Tyna Schmidt will participate in the event titled “Robotics: Urban Search and Rescue Challenge.” 

The competition has a two-member team build a robot and arm mechanism before the event, which will then be used to complete an obstacle course.

The robot must traverse the course, locate objects, secure them, and properly dispose of them. Each team will perform one round consisting of a time-limited mission to locate and dispose of two ordinances.

“I actually first got into robotics in an afterschool program called Aftershock," Schmidt said. "At the time of my student participation, it was a brand new thing that they were trying out. It was my first taste of coding and engineering a robot on my own and with my friends. After moving up to High School from the Junior High I had started volunteering for Aftershock, and was later hired on.”

Mann also shared his excitement about the upcoming competition and his journey with robotics.

“Personally I'm excited to travel, it will be a long bus ride, but the trip full of other SkillsUSA students should be really fun," Mann said. "I'm also really excited to get to meet all sorts of different people. I made it to Nationals with half the time of the other teams and went on to compete. In the finals section of that event, we ended in the top 20. Since then I've been hooked on robotic and mechanical engineering."

The SkillsUSA National Conference will be held in Atlanta, Georgia from June 20-24th.