It was a busy day at Quinnipiac University in Hamden on Saturday where more than 30 middle school teams showed off their skills at a big robotics tournament.
The students were in fifth through eighth grade from Connecticut and New York.
They competed in Connecticut STEM Academy's 2025 VEX Robotics Competition.
The students came with their robots and went head-to-head with other teams and tried to score as many points as possible when they were called up to compete.
Get top local stories in Connecticut delivered to you every morning. >Sign up for NBC Connecticut's News Headlines newsletter.
Those who did well qualified for states.
"A lot of it is leadership and teamwork, and this helps a lot of the kids. We've had kids in the past, who are very quiet, very shy. They think they don't have a place somewhere, and they join VEX IQ and it's something for them," said Laura, of the CT STEM Academy.
Quinnipiac's School of Computing and Engineering played a big role in the event, too. It was their second time teaming up with the Connecticut STEM Academy.
Local
The school says it's a great way to get young students interested in STEM.
"They're sprinkling a little bit of physics in there, mechanics in there, electrical engineering, some programming, and before you know it, they've learned while they were having fun," said John Bau, the Assistant Dean of the School of Computing and Engineering.
Quinnipiac's School of Computing and Engineering has seen over 40 percent growth in student enrollment over the last three years.
