ROCKWALL, Texas – Feb. 14, 2013 – The Robotics Education & Competition (REC) Foundation is pleased to announce a partnership with Cedar Fair Entertainment Company to host the first annual VEX Robotics Competition California State Championship at California’s Great America amusement park in Santa Clara, CA on March 16, 2013. The event will attract more than 50 of the top middle and high school robotics teams from around the state for a full day of robotics matches sponsored locally by the Northrop Grumman Foundation, Chevron, and the Future Foundation. In addition, California’s Great America will open part of the park after the competition ends to provide students with an opportunity to wind down and celebrate in the evening.
“I am thrilled to announce our partnership with Cedar Fair to host our first ever VEX Robotics Competition California State Championship,” said Jason Morrella, President, REC Foundation. “Cedar Fair presents a unique and exciting venue to accommodate the growing interest in competitive robotics engineering programs like the VEX Robotics Competition.”
The REC Foundation’s programs are on target to grow by over 30 percent this year and in order to accommodate the growth the Foundation expects to add a number of state events in the coming year, offering students more opportunities to compete locally and save on travel costs for competition. Currently, the VEX Robotics Competition is comprised of more than 7,000 teams from across the U.S. and internationally with 425 of those teams based in California.
“We are proud to host the inaugural VEX Robotics Competition California State Championship as it aligns with our commitment to youth and education,” said Raul Rehnborg, Vice President and General Manager of California’s Great America. “Education should be fun and we are happy to partner with the REC Foundation to create a learning experience the students will remember for the rest of their lives.”
Scott Tanner, Cedar Fair Corporate Vice President, Sales added, “This championship will be a perfect template for how we can host similar events at the other Cedar Fair parks in the future. We have a strong national footprint that matches up very well with VEX Robotics Competitions throughout the U.S.”
For details on additional upcoming events, please visit www.RobotEvents.com, a unique resource for teams and event partners to register and share updates from their robotics competitions. For more information about the REC Foundation, please visit www.RoboticsEducation.org.
About the Robotics Education & Competition Foundation
The REC Foundation seeks to increase student interest and involvement in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by engaging students in hands-on, sustainable and affordable curriculum-based robotics engineering programs across the U.S. and internationally. The REC Foundation develops partnerships with K-12 education, higher education, government, industry, and the non-profit community to achieve this work.
About Cedar Fair
Cedar Fair is a publicly traded partnership headquartered in Sandusky, Ohio, and one of the largest regional amusement-resort operators in the world. The Company owns and operates 11 amusement parks, four outdoor water parks, one indoor water park and five hotels. Its parks are located in Ohio, California, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Missouri, Michigan, and Toronto, Ontario. Cedar Fair also operates the Gilroy Gardens Family Theme Park in California under a management contract. Cedar Fair’s flagship park, Cedar Point, has been consistently voted the “Best Amusement Park in the World” in a prestigious annual poll conducted by Amusement Today newspaper.