On April 19, Ramay Junior High School hosted a VEX Robotics competition, bringing teams from across Arkansas and Missouri to compete in both junior high and senior high categories.

This event marked the first VEX competition to be hosted in Northwest Arkansas, and it was a success due to the overwhelming support of our dedicated teachers, support staff and administrators who go above and beyond to provide a rigorous and relevant learning experience for our children.

Our particular thanks goes to our teacher-sponsors at Ramay, Bethany Strasser and Jeff O'Connell; at Woodland Junior High, Kristian Cartwright and Jeff Seiter; and at Fayetteville High School, Randal Dickinson and Emery Faulkner.

It also goes to the director of professional development and career education, Marianne Hauser. They all provided leadership in this event and demonstrated their dedication to students interested in engineering and robotics.

Fayetteville Public School students participating in competitions such as this are active in an official career and technical student organization, the Technology Student Association. They work tirelessly after school and on Saturdays to prepare for and compete in a variety of regional, state and national competitions.

To prepare for a VEX or any other robotics competition, such as BEST, students will design, build and program a working robot to perform specific challenges. This past Saturday, the robots were tasked with collecting and moving a series of balls through autonomous programming.

Ramay students made it through to the semi-finals. Woodland Junior High students qualified at the state VEX tournament, held earlier this year, for the National VEX Championship in Anaheim, Calif., on April 26-27.

Additionally, Fayetteville has three teams headed to Little Rock this Friday for the electric vehicle competition, where the Fayetteville High School team placed second in 2013.

Robotics is just one component of the emphasis the Fayetteville School District places on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, or STEM, education.

All three middle schools -- Holt, Owl Creek, and McNair -- recently participated in the Hour of Code, a national event introducing students to computer science. Happy Hollow Elementary School was awarded $10,000 to purchase a variety of technology for their students for their participation in this event.

Leverett Elementary School is investigating how STEM activities can increase student achievement across the curriculum and has begun implementing STEM projects this school year.

Leverett students are also the youngest Fayetteville students participating in Project Lead the Way engineering activities. Project Lead the Way is a national pre-engineering curriculum used in both junior highs and the high school in the Fayetteville School District.

All of these STEM programs and curriculum position the Fayetteville School District for success as Arkansas implements and adopts the Next Generation Science Standards, which emphasize engineering practices.

Opportunities such as these help our students acquire the skills they need to succeed as future global competitors.

VICKI THOMAS HAS SERVED AS SUPERINTENDENT OF FAYETTEVILLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS SINCE 2009.

Commentary on 04/24/2014