MIDLAND, Texas — The robotics teams at Midland High, Legacy High and The Young Women’s’ Leadership Academy have all earned their way to the West Texas Area Championship where all West Texas and the Panhandle will compete in hopes to move on to the State Championship.
“They’re building skills everything from the technical skills to soft skills that they’ll use on the daily basis,” Midland High Robotics Coach Cory Callaway said.
Some of the Midland High students shared their thoughts on why they got into robotics.
“I just love more STEM aspect things," Midland High Junior Blane Wheeless said. "It really makes me let my brain work in the way I think it is intentioned to. Think in ways I do not usually think. It makes me try to do challenges I do not usually do.”
“I knew absolutely nothing when I joined last year," Midland High Senior Margie Altany said. “I did not know how to code I really did not know what I was doing with building. I started learning some coding, but it was not really advanced. The end of last year I started building more, so this year I built our entire robot.”
In robotics, there is a lot of programming and problem solving. However, the main component for the Bulldogs is building a bond that strengthens the team.
“To go to competitions with them at first I’m like 'ugh it’s the morning its early I don’t want to go,' but then its immediately like I just see them they’re so much fun and it automatically makes any bad feeling go away and it’s just a full of like-minded people like me who want to achieve the same things I do,” Wheeless said.
With the tournament starting Saturday morning, the only constant among the Bulldogs is change.
“We found a lot of errors in our building process, so of course we went back, rebuilt it and we sent it back out there,” Midland High Junior Senon Thomas said. “We fix the programming, all the small issues, little details and now she’s in perfect working condition.”
Nearly 25 students from Midland High School are headed to Lubbock to compete in challenges, games and marketing tests, and every student is eager in their own way.
“Whenever I walk into any competition it’s not just ‘Oh my gosh these teams might be better than us, we’re done,’ but also ‘Oh my gosh these teams might be better than us let’s see what they’re doing,'” Altany said.
For Mr. Callaway, it’s much more than a competition.
“I can remember their faces, I can remember their accomplishments and I can remember the relationships we’ve built that’s most important to me,” Callaway said.
The friendship, the teamwork and desire for STEM education has made all the difference in these students’ lives.
NewsWest 9 wishes the Bulldogs, the Rebels and the Game Changers good luck in Lubbock this weekend.