On Sunday, February 8, Vaughn College hosted the VCAT VEX V5 regional pushback qualifier for high school robotics teams from across the New York region. More than 35 teams from Long Island, Queens and the Bronx came to show off their STEM skills after months of preparing for the competition.

“I first started robotics in high school and fell in love with it,” said Adam Marzak ’26, who has been hosting robotics competitions for high school and middle school students for three years. “That’s why I came to Vaughn College, and now, being able to host events for high school kids is great because I’m able to give back to them while also contributing to their work.” Marzak currently serves as the event coordinator for Vaughn College’s robotics team.

KG CompuTech from Flushing, Queens won the excellence award and were also one of two tournament champions, which automatically qualified them for the event region championship.  Two other teams, Overclock Robotics, also from Flushing, and Coast 2 Coast Robotics from Bayside, New York, qualified for the event region championship by winning the design award and robotics skills champion award, respectfully. For the full list of winners, see here.