GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV) – More than 350 high school students and mentors from all across the United States came to compete in a VEX Robotics Competition at the Lambeau Field Atrium.

Students from California, Illinois, South Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, Florida, Tennessee, Montana, Indiana, Kentucky, Virginia, Texas, and Wisconsin, as well as one team from Santander, Columbia, all came together to square off head-to-head.

Local 5 News caught up with Nathan Nolte, the President of Fox Valley Competitive Robotics, who explained this event is a significant occasion for the VEX competitions.

“[The students] are competing to potentially earn a spot in the VEX World Championship that will be held in Dallas in April,” said Nolte.

While the competitive part of the event is key, Notle explained that this is a great opportunity for students to learn about robotics and how they can enhance STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) skills.

“Every year they have a new game that [the students] have to design around,” said Nolte. “They design, they build, they program, and they learn to drive a robot to play the game.”

This year’s event featured a game called “Spin-Up,” which was inspired by disc golf, where the robot needs to throw a disc into a basket. Nolte says the process of having teamwork throughout the year is crucial to building chemistry.

“The students spend the entire year working as a team by coming up with the problems they need to solve, working through the design process, and figuring out the best way how to solve those problems,” explained Nolte. “Building team dynamics and even failing. Failure is a chance to learn.”

The event runs from 9:15 a.m. until about 5:30 p.m. on Friday.