The Montwood High School robotics team got a major boost from NASA, becoming the only rookie team from El Paso to receive a $6,000 grant from the agency to attend the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC), an international high school robotics tournament.
“This is a competition that I’ve always dreamed of competing in,” said Isaiah Villareal, a senior at Montwood High School and president of the robotics team. “So, to be able to build a robot and compete is really a dream come true.”
The FRC is one of the largest robotics competitions in the world, where each year, teams of high school students and their mentors work for six weeks to build a robot to compete in that year’s games. Robots complete tasks such as scoring balls into goals, placing inner tubes onto racks, hanging on bars, and balancing robots on balance beams.
Montwood received the NASA Rookie Grant, which is intended for teams participating for the first time in an FRC event. Funds will help the team pay for the robot’s building materials and other competition-related expenses.
Math teacher and robotics coach Luis Ramirez said the sponsorship news came as his students prepared for the annual FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC), a mid-level competition organized by FIRST for middle school and high school students.
“I can’t believe that out of the hundreds of teams that applied for the grant from NASA, they chose Montwood High School,” Ramirez said. “This is huge for our school and El Paso, as we will be the only NASA-sponsored team representing the city.”
Sixteen Montwood robotics team members will represent the school at the 2023 FRC competition. This year’s competition’s theme, “Charged Up,” encourages students to explore the boundaries of electricity and renewable energy.
The Montwood team will first go head-to-head against thousands of other students from across the globe in two smaller level competitions before moving onto a championship round and eventually the worldwide competition.
Students are gearing up for the competition in a new room the high school provided where they can collaborate on projects for contests like FRC and FTC.
Ramirez said thanks to the support they have received from NASA and Socorro ISD, the team is confident about their upcoming performance in the FRC.
“Robotics starts as students are in elementary and middle school, and eventually, they make their way up to where we are,” Ramirez said. “So each year these students grow as does their level of preparedness, which makes for better robotics teams at the high school level.”
The students, who have been working on the design phase since January, couldn't be more excited.
Villarreal, who has been working on robotics since the fifth grade, said that NASA's FRC sponsorship is a result of the great work done at Montwood High School and how much the team has grown.
"They see that we put in the time, dedication, the effort and that we all have a passion for what we do here, so it is a really good feeling," said Villareal, who plans to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology this fall.
SISD’s robotics activities allow students such as Magali Rodriguez to apply what they learn in the classroom to real-world experiences. Like athletics, robotics competitions also provide students with opportunities to learn life skills such as teamwork and sportsmanship.
Rodriguez joined the robotics team during her first year at Montwood because she wanted to try something new. Now a senior, Rodriguez said robotics has become one of her passions.
“It’s mind-blowing to be a part of this, and I’m proud that in the years ahead, I’ll be able to say that I was a part of the first robotics team at Montwood High School to compete in FRC,” Rodriguez said.
Montwood High School robotics team event photos
Published February 9, 2023
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