Mission, Texas- Robotics teams from two Mission CISD (Consolidated Independent School District) junior high schools showed the Rio Grande Valley that they can hold their own against older competitors. Out of the 65 teams competing at the annual Hispanic Engineering, Science, and Technology (HESTEC) Week robotics competition, 48 consisted of high school students, 17 were from middle schools.
When the competition dust settled, only one high school team beat them out for the top three spots. The K. White Jr. High School (KWJH) team placed second overall and the Alton Memorial Jr. High School (AMJH) RoboRangers placed third.
The K. White Jr. High team is made up of (Left to right): Daniela Barrera (coach), Shaila Silva (coach), Joseph Wyant, Alan Castellanos, Victoria Molina, Jesus Torres, Arnulfo Salazar, Jose Luis Sanchez Jr.
The AMJH RoboRangers earning third place were: Brandon Balderas, Robert Ramirez, Adamaris Sanchez, Jose Escobedo, Miguel Garcia. In addition to their third place overall win, the RoboRangers also earned three other trophies. They earned two first place trophies; one in the Lego Grand Prix and one in the Lego Pull Challenge. The team also earned a third place finish for well-rounded performances. This is the first time a Mission CISD team has taken two first place trophies at any HESTEC robotics day competition. Pictured are the AMJH RoboRangers after receiving their trophies. On the front row from left to right are: Kimberly Maldonado, Adamaris Sanchez, Keyla Trejo. On the back row are (left to right): Robert Ramirez, Jose Hernandez, Cristian Navarro, Sebastian Ortiz, Jose Escobedo, Brandon Balderas, Miguel Garcia. The RoboRangers are coached by: Sammy Rivera, Robert Granados, Samantha Granados, David Bridgewater.
The AMJH RoboRangers have had strong showings at the HESTEC competition the last two years and have advanced to the National Science Bowl competition twice.
This year’s HESTEC competition consisted of four individual events and was titled the Lego Quadrathon. All the teams used the Lego EV3 platform for the competition. The four events that the EV3 robot needed to complete with one pre-assembled robot was the Lego Grand Prix, the Lego Pull Challenge, the Lego Strength Challenge, and the Lego Tracer Challenge. Students had about three to four weeks to prepare for the event and the tasks involved in each event.
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