Parkland High School's VEX Robotic Team won top awards this spring at state and national competitions.

According to Bob Yocum of the Technology and Engineering Department, Team 4001E won three Excellence awards, the highest honor in the VEX Robotics Competition. These awards are given to a team that exemplifies excellence in building a well-rounded VEX Robotics Program.

"An Excellence Award winning team not only shows a high level of engineering skill with a competitive robot on the field, but is a strong contender in numerous judged awards off the field as well," Yocum said.

In winning the Excellence award in the PA State Championships, the Parkland 4001E team is one of eight high school teams from Pennsylvania that was eligible to compete in the VEX Worlds event in Louisville, Ky., in April.

"The team did extremely well in Kentucky, finishing 13th out of 90 teams in our division," Yocum said.