The Grand Grizzlies Robotics Team from Grand Avenue Middle School earned a spot in the 2026 Southern New York VEX IQ State Championships, held March 15 at Adelphi University. 

The team secured its invitation after strong performances in recent tournaments, placing 5th and 8th and advancing to the final rounds. By consistently finishing in the Top 10, the Grand Grizzlies qualified to compete among the region’s top robotics teams at the state championship. 

This season’s robot represents the fourth design iteration, reflecting the dedication, creativity, and perseverance of the student engineers. Team members include Luke Matchekosky, Grayden Urtheil, Seth Bachrach, Scarlet Yin, and Lucas DiPasquale, who worked throughout the season to refine their robot’s design and performance under the guidance of faculty advisor Michelle Biancardo. 

The team’s efforts also included a detailed engineering notebook, custom team apparel, and advanced robot features developed over months of collaboration and testing. 

"We had the best organization this year, a custom t-shirt, great engineer's notebook, next level robot design, the autonomous challenge and it was the first time we were able to use the pneumatics kit purchased by the tech department," said Michelle Biancardo, the teams' faculty advisor.