VEX Robotics Competition World Championship that will be held at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California, April 18 - 21, 2012

Reston, VA March 26, 2012

The Robotics Education and Competition Foundation (REC Foundation) connects students, mentors, and schools in communities nationwide to a variety of successful and engaging technology-based programs. National REC Foundation programs include the VEX Robotics Competition for middle school, high school and college students; BEST Robotics, Inc.; BotBall; and the Technology Student Association (TSA) VEX Robotics Competition.

The TSA VEX Robotics Competition engages middle and high school students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education through an exciting, head-to-head robotics contest that captures student attention and both enhances-and allows them to use-their skills in STEM areas. In addition, the competition complements the existing technology-related competitive events offered by TSA at both the middle and high school level of instruction.

TSA VEX Robotics Gateway tournaments have been conducted in conjunction with TSA state conferences over the last two months in Washington, Kentucky and Georgia. TSA student members will participate in state TSA VEX Robotics Competitions in Utah, North Carolina, Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee and Pennsylvania in the coming weeks, with the hope to qualify for the VEX Robotics Championship event at the 2012 national TSA conference to be held at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee, June 21st through June 25th. In total, there were about 300 TSA-VEX Robotics Competition teams (approximately 2,000 students will compete in spring events).

TSA VEX Robotics teams are also hoping for a shot at the VEX Robotics Competition World Championship that will be held at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California, April 18 - 21, 2012. The VEX Robotics Competition World Championship is a gathering of top robotics teams from around the world to celebrate their accomplishments and compete with/against the best of the best. The 2012 VEX Robotics Competition World Championship will include qualifying teams from over 230 VEX Robotics Competition tournaments.

"The TSA-VEX Robotics Competition provides students with an engaging hands-on, co-curricular platform that gets them excited about STEM education," said Jason Morrella, President of the Robotics Education and Competition Foundation. "The TSA-VEX Robotics Competition complements TSA's existing technology-related competitive TSA events, and through this competition we help to mold today's students into our nation's future engineers, employees and leading innovators."

About TSA
TSA is a national organization devoted exclusively to the needs of students interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Open to young people enrolled in or who have completed technology education courses, TSA's membership includes over 190,000 middle and high school students in 2,000 schools spanning 48 states. TSA partners with universities and other organizations to promote a variety of STEM competitions and opportunities for students and teachers. TSA is supported by educators, parents and business leaders who believe in the need or a technologically literate society. From engineers to business managers, our alumni credit TSA with a positive influence in their lives. Visit http://www.tsaweb.org for more information.

About REC Foundation
The REC Foundation, standing for Robotics Education and Competition, is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization, supports robotics and technology events and programs that aim to inspire and motivate students to advance in STEM education. In addition to supporting competitions for some of the world's leading robotics platforms and organizations including VEX, TSA, BOTBALL and BEST, the foundation also provides program support and workshops focused on technology and professional development for educators - including the RobotEvents.com community portal website which helps promote multiple high quality programs and provides online registration and event pages for hundreds of events around the world.

About VEX Robotics and Innovation First International
VEX Robotics, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Innovation First International, is a leading provider of educational robotics products to middle schools, high schools and colleges around the world. The VEX Robotics Design System, winner of the 2006 Best of Innovations Award at CES, was built from the ground up and designed to be an affordable, accessible and scalable platform used to teach science, technology, engineering and math education worldwide. The company has over 250 man years of experience supporting educational robotics programs and extensive engineering resources on two continents dedicated to the VEX Robotics platform. For more information on the VEX Robotics Design System, visit VEXRobotics.com.