Splendora robotics students place in Houston tournament

Splendora ISD robotics teams and their coaches competed at the FIRST Lego League (FLL) Qualifier Competition at Benavidez Elementary School in Houston on Saturday, Jan. 12.

Splendora was well represented, bringing nine FLL teams and 10 Junior FLL teams. For the competition, students shared their research projects and proposed solutions for long duration space flight and living on the moon. They also demonstrated their ability with robot design and programming in the model building (JrFLL) and robot games (FLL).

For the junior teams, all students received a ribbon for participation and two junior teams won exemplary awards.

The Moon Light Crushers, led by Mrs. Teresa Barron, won the Effort and Learning Award, which describes a team that has a strong effort and a willingness to learn and try new things; a team that is prepared for success.

The Gravity Jumpers, led by Mrs. Shelby Barrera and Mrs. Tina Fitzgerald, won the Inquiring Minds Award.  The winners for this award demonstrated an interest in science and an enjoyment of the building process. This team is “always looking to find a solution, this team kept morale up while creating smart solutions.”

For the FLL teams, none of our teams advanced to the next round, but one team, the Shooting Stars, led by Mrs. Jillian Trimm, won an exemplary award called the Gracious Professionalism Award for “a team whose members show each other and other teams respect at all times. They recognize that both friendly competition and mutual gain are possible on and off the playing field.”

The scores below are the highest scoring teams from Splendora in the robot games out of the 36 teams who competed:

17th place – Coach Tiffany Bailey – Space Legends (PCE/GLE)

18th place – Coach Christina Chapman – Star STEAMers (PWE)

19th place – Coach Ada Barron – Asteroid Destroyers

20th place – Coach Joanna Muirhead – Cozmic Men-onautz

22nd place – Coach Donna Brock – The Star Lights

Robotics Program Director Alex Kabli is proud of the coaches and students and said, “Way to go everyone! Thank you for all of your hard work!”