Tronox, a manufacturing plant in Henderson, recently donated $5,000 to benefit students in the robotics club at Basic Academy of International Studies.
The donation assisted the program by providing students with an extracurricular activity that will brighten their futures. Due to the generous donation and community support that Tronox provides, Basic Robotics Club now has back-to-back state championship wins in robotics to add to its list of achievements.
After 70 qualification matches last weekend, Basic’s Z team was undefeated and remained as the top seed going into the finals. The Basic Z team partnered with Basic’s A team and a team from Clark High School to crush every other opponent in the tournament. Basic’s Z team went 14-0, defeating top-ranked Cimarron High School in multiple matches, which is an unprecedented accomplishment at a state-level tournament.
Basic Robotics Club will now begin to prepare for the U.S. Open Robotics Championship that takes place early April in Iowa, as well as the VEX Robotics World Championship (High School Division) in Kentucky in late April. The team is currently fundraising to meet the costs for their travel expenses to the U.S. Open and VEX World Championships.
“It heartens me to see these students competing in national robotics competitions. I saw a need to drive STEM programs and thankfully was able to assist with that need,” said Rick Stater, Henderson plant manager at Tronox. “We are proud to help the programs succeed, and we enjoy being an integral part of these learning opportunities.”
To donate to the Basic Robotics program, please contact Mark Reed at mlreed@interact.ccsd.net.
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Tronox, a manufacturing plant in Henderson, recently donated $5,000 to benefit students in the robotics club at Basic Academy of International Studies.
The Basic Robotics Club hosted six competition teams this year, which is two more than the previous year. The club now has a record-breaking 22 members. Recently, Basic’s X Team dominated Faith Lutheran with a 12-1 record. The VEX Tournament hosted 58 teams from Nevada and California, and was the largest tournament ever held in the state. The X Team received the Excellence Award, which is the highest honor in VEX Robotics.
Basic Robotics Club has won two of the last three tournaments, which qualifies three teams to compete in the National Robotics Championship in April. “It is wonderful to see that our donation has allowed the students to thrive and make great strides in their robotics program,” said Rick Stater, Tronox’s Henderson plant manager. “We are proud of the work that the students and advisers continually accomplish together, and are happy to assist in any way to further their learning opportunities.”
Tronox is a global leader in the mining, production and marketing of inorganic minerals and chemicals, as well as producer of specialty chemicals including boron products and manganese oxide products. The Tronox electrolytic division is an emerging leader in manganese products, building on their position as one of the largest producers of electrolytic manganese dioxide in the United States.
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To view on the Las Vegas Business Press website, please click here.
