Ten80 Robotics Team Races Cars In Chicago
Story by Damar Queen. Photo by Summer Williams.
From March 5th to 9th, 2025, a group of Collegiate engineering students and I attended the Ten80 Nationals in Chicago with the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE). We went because we had a competition where we raced RC cars for a program named Ten80. Ten80 is a STEM education initiative in partnership with NSBE that engages middle and high school students in hands-on engineering, robotics, and business challenges through RC car competitions and autonomous vehicle programming. Students participate as NSBE Jr. team members by registering with both NSBE and Ten80, then compete at local, regional, and national levels, including the NSBE Annual Convention, after completing team training and project milestones.
The first day in Chicago on March 5, 2025 we landed at the airport, got our bags, and went to the hotel. After that I went out to eat and then went to the convention center for an opening ceremony. The next day we went back to the convention center for open practice to race our car. Then I ate lunch and finished practice, and watched the Vex team do their competition. Vex is a robotics team. They have to collect blocks and put them in a goal to win points using the robot they built. They tried their hardest to compete and win and unfortunately they lost.
The next day it was time for our race and we went to the convention center to compete against 20-25 teams. I was a little nervous. We raced and I came in 4th place in my first race, and 2nd place in my second. Our teammate raced the oval race but he broke the car, so when it was time for our collaboration race, we had to use the other team that we collaborated with. The team we collaborated with ended up coming in 2nd place after one of their drivers and our drivers raced.
In conclusion I had fun and I hope to go to Ten80 again next year. It was a great opportunity to learn and meet people. If you want to join Ten80 talk to Ms.Cooper, FCA engineering teacher.
Damar Queen is a junior at Friendship Collegiate Academy.