CORPUS CHRISTI, Tx — Moody High School's Citgo Innovation Academy Robotics Club have a lot to celebrate. They received a series of awards for the first time in 5 years.
Senior Noah Martinez is the team's captain and said he's been waiting on these wins since he was a freshman.
“We really wanted to win," Martinez said. "We wanted it more than anything else.”
They took home the Finalist Alliance and Inspire Awards in the First Tech Challenge (FTC).
This competition highlights robotics from local schools across the Coastal Bend. For the Vex Robotics Competition, they went to the Robstown regional qualifier, battling students from schools across the entire state. That’s where they won Tournament Champion, Skills Champion and the Judge’s Award.
"These wins really show just the determination we had and the grit and the motivation we had to want to win these tournaments and to win these competition,” Martinez said.
Robotics instructor Randall Stuart said seeing his students develop a strong interest robotics and eventually take on careers in stem has become the greatest reward.
"When you see the kids that come to school here and are in these classes, go off to college and be successful, that’s pretty crazy," Stuart said. "So, that’s the most rewarding thing is to seeing the kids be successful beyond here.”
Other students said robotics isn’t all about science, they’ve also learned how to build strong relationships.
“The most important thing is how to work together and treat everyone as family," Alejandro Valdez said.
As this team hopes to keep up their winning streak, Stuart said there’s only one way that students can continue learning this innovative subject.
“Fund stem. We don’t have enough Lego league teams in the elementary schools. We need more stem. Stem is where the money is," Stuart said.
The students are gearing up for the next competition, the FTC Regional Competition, where they will face off against other state schools at the end of February.
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