CUSD is proud to have received the Golden Bell Award, an award for academic success, for the third time. The Golden Bell Award, which is sponsored each year by the California School Boards Association, recognizes extraordinary programs that are offered either in school districts or County Boards of Education. The award is only given to exceptional education programs in LA County schools. The district’s eighth annual Robotics Competition received the Bell in December. Over 200 applications were sent to the board and CUSD was one of 43 districts to receive a Bell. CUSD received the award in the category of “Curriculum and Instruction-Science” due to the Robotics Competition and its joint partnership with CGU and Harvey Mudd. The award raises the prestige of CUSD and highlights the bond between the colleges.

“Claremont Unified School District is grateful to the community for its support of the Robotics Competition and proud of the collaborative partnership with the Claremont Colleges, especially Claremont Graduate University and Harvey Mudd College for their direct involvement with the competition,” CUSD Superintendent Jim Elsasser said.

The Robotics Competition is available to every CUSD student from fifth to twelfth grade. The students were split into mixed teams based on their grade in February. The teams were then tasked to build a robot using the EV3 Mindstorms kit. At the competition on the Claremont Graduate University campus, the robots are then graded on how quickly they finish tasks. The robot must travel forward and backwards a few feet and follow a black line. In addition to the tasks, a panel of judges from Harvey Mudd meets with each team and interviews them on how much they know about their robot and the process. This competition was a key factor on why CUSD won this award.

“Last year was my first year. I was surprised at how cohesive the teams were and how everyone was productive and learning,” junior Omar Naffaa said. “The partnership between the colleges and the program really helped me get an idea of how to program.”

To show the accomplishments of CUSD, the LA County Office of Education is going to video record different teams from the robotics competition. Even though they could not come to the actual competition, they will be recording a few teams who volunteer to be recorded. The recordings will be comprised of interactions among the age groups and the process of designing and making the robot and programming it.

CUSD is very happy to have received the Golden Bell and plans to continue the Robotics Competition, which is happening in May. The collaboration with Claremont Graduate University and Harvey Mudd will occur yet again for the ninth year running.