TCC Students Prepare for 2025 Engineering Robotics Competition in Canada
Tidewater Community College will send a team of first and second-year students to the 2025 American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, from June 22 to June 25. TCC has been a proud participant in the ASEE Annual Conference since 1999 and has earned second-place honors six times in past robotics competitions. This year’s ASEE Annual Conference, themed “Engineering Educators Bringing the World Together,” will host the much-anticipated Engineering Robotics Competition.
TCC’s robotics team is a collaborative effort between the Chesapeake STEM Club and the Engineering Club. Since September 2024, both clubs have been preparing to compete in a track-based challenge where a robot must autonomously push a hockey puck into a goal. Their robot will face off against other college and university teams in a point-based contest that kicks off with a poster presentation before the main competition.
Faculty advisors Bill Simmons and Kenny Grimes, professors in the Engineering, Maritime & Skilled Trades Pathway, are guiding students through the project.
“This experience is the best they can get,” said Grimes. “It’s kind of like a senior project, but they don’t have to wait until their senior year.”
Grimes noted that these students have been working on this project day in and day out, “They work all the way through the year. Sometimes they’re working until the night before we leave for the competition.”
Both Simmons and Grimes emphasized the importance of networking at the conference, where students will explore internship opportunities and connect with industry professionals.
This year’s team includes four standout students: club president Nicole Weber, vice president Malachi Knight, and members Sydney Urwin and Nate Irwing. All are early in their academic careers, representing the next generation of engineering talent.
Knight highlighted the team’s collaborative spirit: “It’s nice having alike-minded people to bounce ideas around, giving more creativity. It’s good learning how to work with other people and see things from different perspectives.”
Although only four students are allowed to travel, the broader student organization includes more than 15 active members who have contributed to the project since the beginning stages.
“I’m really appreciative of how many people have been showing up consistently and have been working on the robot. It’s really a change from last year. It’s been making the morale [better]. The team is working together. I’m glad we have that dynamic,” Weber said.
The students look forward to representing TCC in Canada in June. With a strong legacy of academic and student achievement, the college is hopeful that this year’s team will build on that success at the 2025 competition.