Great!
Thank you!
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Welcome @Erika_Montandon! Iām glad youāre here and Iām excited to learn together 
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Welcome @Erika_Montandon !
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Hello all! My name is Pepper Dellinger. My background is in science education as well as special education. Iāve been teaching for 23 years, mainly 6th grade Earth Science. I got into robotics through PLTW. Currently I am the new K-6 STEM Teacher in a rural community at a very small school in Lee County, Alabama. I teach about 400 students. I see K-6 students once a week for STEM class. I also teach 7th and 8th graders computer science every day in the afternoons. I am familiar with VEX IQ but new to the PD plus community. Iām hoping to increase my knowledge on all things VEX to better manage and incorporate robotics into my STEM and computer science classes. I am also hoping to gain some help so I can better coach our 3 VEX IQ robotics teams. I am on Twitter as well @DellingerSTEAM. Thanks to @Lauren_Harter and @Matthew_Goodwin for helping me find my way here to the VEX community.Glad to be here. Nice to meet everyone.
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@Pepper_Dellinger Iām so glad youāre here and Iām so excited to have some awesome conversations in this Community! I know that our conversations so far have been wonderful in our 1-1 Sessions, and I canāt wait to continue those here with myself, Matt, other VEX Experts, and the rest of the VEX Community
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Hi @Pepper_Dellinger - great to have you are part of the community
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Chris Kendall
Engineering and Robotics Teacher at Houston CTE in Houston, MS
9th year teaching the course that offers a CSWA Solidworks National Certification at the end of the second year. Mainly 10th and 11th grade students. We have Vex Cortex, V5, and EXP products and have competed in VRC a few times with the V5 brain.
I have a Vex VR premium license with PD+ and have a couple course certification certificates. In MS our teaching license is renewed every 5 years with 10 Continuing Education Units (CEUs) where 1 hour of course work is equal to .1 CEU credit. I have 34 hours worth of certification with VEX PD+. The Dept of Ed in MS does not recognize Vex PD+ certificates for CEUs. I would like to know how to change that or who I need to contact to see what can be done to get the MDE to accept the coursework as CEUs. Too many times I have to spend money to go to useless workshops to obtain CEUs for renewal. I donāt mind paying for the training to gain CEUs, but I would prefer to spend my money to get training in the subject area that I teach and the VEX courses are helpful to me as an educator who uses the VEX products and VEX VR to teach coding and robotics that are required in my state cirriculum.
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Hi @Chris_Kendall welcome to the VEX Community.
We do not really do state level specific accreditations at this time. Are there any specific details (like a website) you can share with me?
Please also feel free to reach out to me at: nicole@vex.com to continue this conversation. I will be happy to do what I can.
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Hello @Pepper_Dellinger Itās great to meet you. My name is Rich, and Iām a K-6 teacher in STEM. Iām excited to see someone with such a strong background joining the VEX community. Your experience with PLTW and robotics will definitely be a valuable asset as you dive into VEX IQ and coaching your teams.
Iām looking forward to learning more from everyone here and sharing insights as we all work to enhance our studentsā STEM experiences.
If you have any questions or need advice about VEX 123, GO, and IQ, feel free to reach out. Iām looking forward to connecting with you and the rest of the community! @Jason_McKenna
Rich
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Hey everyone my name is Shanon Garrett from Washington, DC. I am fairly new to VEX robotics EXP and now the competition side of things. I am a high school teacher and I am looking for assistance with starting my club.
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Welcome Shanon! Thereās a great group of classroom and competition teachers here. I am sure you will get some great advice.
The teachV5.vex.com page has a section about the elements of a competition with links for ways how students can get started with coding, engineering, or their engineering notebooks. There was also a post just last week about how to use the VEXcode VR Virtual Skills with competition teams (Engaging Students with Virtual Skills in VEXcode VR | VEX Professional Development Plus) to help get started with strategy and such for competition teams.
Looking forward to learning more about your teams and hearing about your competition season!
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HI! I am also a high school teacher and I do camps for all ages. We are just starting a unified robotics team this year so we are very excited. Happy to share anything with you (presentations, etc.) that I have.
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Hi All,
I am Vahid, a parent and software engineer from Vancouver, Canada.
Iām excited to be part of this vibrant community of robotics enthusiasts! Back in the early 2000s, during my high school and university years, I actively participated in RoboCup and programming competitionsāand was fortunate to earn some international awards along the way. Those experiences built a strong foundation in robotics and coding that I still carry with me today.
Now, Iām diving into the world of VEX to not only reconnect with that passion but also to support my children as they explore STEM and robotics. Iām looking forward to learning from all of you and contributing wherever I can!
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Welcome! Very excited to hear how your experience moves forward into this new realm. Do you have any old competitions that stick out to you as your favorite?
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Hello all!
My name is Donnelleā Mitchell and I am an Elementary international educator currently teaching in the picturesque Jeju, South Korea at Korea International School, Jeju. Originally from Texas, this is my 12th year teaching and 8th year abroad.
I work with grades 1-5 in our Science Lab delivering hands-on exploration of life, earth, and physical science standards as outlined by the NGSS in a specialist class setting. I also coach homeroom teachers on how to make science come alive in their own spaces in authentic, targeted ways. I love integrating these with the VEX123 and VEXGo platforms whenever I can! Iāve really enjoyed leveraging the VEX continuum when designing and modeling have been a natural part of what they are learning.
In addition, I also coach our competitive VEXIQ Elementary teams for grades 4 and 5 for the past 5 seasons. Competition is fun, but my favorite part has been watching students develop independence, strong communication skills, and autonomy to take action confidently.
Iām looking forward to connect and learn all the great ways you use the continuum in your spaces! You can also find me on Linkedin if you want to learn more about international teaching!
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Hi @Donnelle_Mitchell Welcome to the community! I havenāt been to South Korea in about 5 years, but it was one of my favorite places to visit. Looking forward to collaborating and learning with you.
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Hello all. I retired from Georgia in 2023 having taught Engineering and Technology Education courses at both MS and HS. Started the VEX Competition teams at Dunwoody High School 1264 Wildcats and made a few trips to Worlds. Left the classroom in 2012 for administration. I have just returned to the classroom at Friendswood HS in the South Houston area. I am teaching a PLTW course as well as a robotics course where we are bringing in VEX as the platform. In addition, we are starting up 3 competition teams and I am looking for as much help as I can get since I have been out for awhile. The school also competes in FTC and FRC but looks like VEX is going to be a growing sport. I am in the VEX PD+ program trying to learn as much as I can in a short amount of time, so again, any assistance you can provide for the classroom portion and competition teams would be helpful as much has changed when youāve been out for awhile. Thanks and looking forward to learning from everyone here.
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Hi @Mark_Crenshaw, and welcome to PD+!
Hi @Mark_Crenshaw Welcome to the community. We just released some Competition 101 STEM Labs for both IQ and V5. These should be a great help as you prepare your competition team(s).
We have a lot of curriculum that you can utilize. As you are going through things, please let us know if you have any questions.
Hello, everyone!
Iām Renz Salas from the Philippines. I work as a Science Education Specialist at the University of the Philippines National Institute for Science and Mathematics Education Development (UP NISMED). Iām also a 3D printing enthusiast and enjoy teaching it in our laboratory school.
I was first introduced to VEX Robotics during a STEM Summit organized by SEAMEO in Bangkok, Thailand. Since then, weāve had the pleasure of connecting with Andy Lee, and weāve been fortunate to host workshops led by Jason McKenna, along with follow-up visits from Andy here in the Philippines.
Currently, weāre exploring the VEX AIM and VEX IQ kits, and weāre very excited to integrate these tools (or toys!) into our classroom activities. Iām also brainstorming ways to 3D print custom objects that can enhance our use of the kits.
Happy to be here and looking forward to learning and sharing with all of you!
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