Hundreds of students representing 49 teams from 20 high schools around the country competed at the CIJE Vex Robotics Tournament on Monday, March 31, at the Fort Washington Armory in Washington Heights. In the end, two teams from Westchester Hebrew High School defeated a combination of teams from Torah Academy of Bergen County (TABC) and Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway (HAFTR) for the championship.

Vex Robotics is an international company that designs robotics competitions for students all over the world. With a different game for high schoolers every year, Vex is the standard in robotics competitions, a rapidly growing area of STEAM activities in schools across the globe.

Due to most Vex tournaments being held over weekends (and therefore on shabbat), competing is an issue in the Jewish community. That’s where the Center for Initiatives in Jewish Education (CIJE) steps in to make amazing events like this one possible.

Created in 2001, CIJE coordinates educational programs in more than 175 Jewish schools across the country. Those programs impact the learning of more than 45,000 students each year and focus on both the ever-relevant (collaborating in teams, developing critical thinking skills and finding solutions) and the futuristic (the STEAM component). According to the organization, the goal is to prepare the next generation for innovation by funding programs with advanced technology, developing engaging curricula and providing ongoing teacher training, mentorship and school visits by engineers.

In this case, CIJE invited high school teams from all types of Jewish schools all over the country to come compete for this year’s championship. Many schools in the tri-state area were represented along with schools from communities including Baltimore, Miami and Boston. But CIJE actually does more than just host the tournament. They supply the schools with the materials to build the games as per the specifications that Vex sends out. This allows the schools to have a playing field for the students to practice on that they have access to during the year.

The CIJE Robotics League challenges students to work in teams throughout the school year to build robots that compete in multi-school tournaments, culminating at this event. Students learn advanced programming, mechanical building, teamwork and problem-solving through the process of building their robots and competing.

The high school division is the only one where the robots directly compete with each other. They do so in a two-on-two format that requires the teams to work together in order to defeat their opponents. The teams not only battle each other in the arena, but the design of the game makes teams decide what point scoring ventures were worth the risk.

Many schools actually had so much interest that they brought multiple teams. And while there was certainly a lot of fun going on, it was healthy competition as well. It might not be literally sports, but it would be hard to tell. Teams had everything from matching jerseys and sweatshirts to huddles and team chants. Seeing the cooperation (both between players on the same team and competitors from different schools that were tasked with working together) was something to behold. Your average basketball game doesn’t include kids from dozens of schools showing up and being forced to compete alongside athletes from other schools that they just met minutes before. The added degree of difficulty certainly makes the competition a bit more interesting.

Westchester’s dominance this year was not limited to the playoffs. All four of their teams finished in the top nine spots in the qualifying round. This meant they all moved on to the playoffs, reserved for the 16 best finishers. Two of their teams were paired with each other due to circumstances of the standings and that for sure came in handy in a competition where teamwork is such a key factor.

The win was particularly momentous for Westchester given last year was their first year as a CIJE school, yet they were able to share the title with a team from Donna Klein Jewish Academy (Boca Raton, FL). This year, they share the trophy with themselves.

Westchester STEM Director David Merel was very proud of all his teams and what they were able to accomplish in both the qualifying and playoffs rounds. Merel went to Westchester himself (Class of 1998) and is in his third year teaching at the school. The students that he brought to the competition are in his advanced robotics course.

“We believe that this type of stuff is the future, so it’s a good thing to emphasize in school,” Merel said about robotics and other STEAM subjects. “The kids really put in the time and it was great to see them rewarded in the end.”

With STEM options increasing in schools everywhere, CIJE’s role to help facilitate corresponding growth in Jewish day schools is greater than ever. Their goal is to be there for whatever is next for the future in STEM education and events like these demonstrate how happy the students are that CIJE is there to help them expand their educational horizons.

“We are seeing the CIJE Robotics League become a mainstay of the Jewish day school experience,” said CIJE Director of Innovation Orly Nadler. “Students who started in sixth grade are now graduating into the high school league, where the level of competition has elevated due to this early exposure. Students are entering more prepared, ready to strategize with peers from other schools, and attentive to the fine details. This demonstrates that many of the skills we want our students to develop are actualizing, and there is nothing more thrilling to witness.”

High School          

1st     Westchester Hebrew High School (NY)

Westchester Hebrew High School (NY)

2nd    TABC (NJ)

HAFTR (NY)

3rd    Donna Klein Jewish Academy (FL)

Central-Yeshiva University High School for Girls (NY)