Awesome Potatoes return after competing at VEX World Championship

By ROWAN WILSON

Monadnock Ledger-Transcript

Published: 05-10-2023 3:07 PM

The Awesome Potatoes, Great Brook School’s robotics team, recently returned from the VEX World Championship in Dallas, where 787 team from over 40 countries competed this year.

This was the second year the team qualified for the world championship, and the five seventh-grade girls – Josie Hodsdon, Elena Spinale, Gwen Moritz, Fiona McKinney and Mallory Mason – competed in individual team events as well as team collaborations in which they formed alliances with teams from around the country and around the world. They worked with teams from London, Glen Waverley, Australia; Los Angeles; Houston; Miami; and Baltimore.

Awesome Potatoes coach Rick Mellin said he was incredibly impressed by the girls’ constant upbeat attitude during the three days of matches and their willingness to support other teams, engage with people visiting their booth and exchange email addresses and swag with teams from other countries, “of which they all brought home a ton,” Mellin said.

A letter sent to New Hampshire VEX coaches after the event said, “As we all know from our experiences with the Awesome Potatoes, they always bring the positive energy wherever they go, and it was surely there at the world event.”

The team raised more than $5,000 for the trip and were sponsored by Elbit Systems, AMS OSRAM, and Lehnen Industrial Services.

Mellin said the team got the opportunity to explore Dallas in their time outside of the competition.

“They visited the Dallas Aquarium, which they all loved, as well as making a trip to Deep Ellum for some serious Texas barbecue,” he said. “They are truly an awesome group and hopefully the first of many to come from Great Brook to earn and experience the opportunity.”

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