Forty-four students and 12 sponsors from Carpenter Elementary, Bonnette Junior High, Deepwater Junior High, Deer Park Junior High, Fairmont Junior High, and Deer Park High School-South Campus loaded up a charter bus to head for the Texas Computer Education Association (TCEA) State Robotics Contest in Irving to compete April 13-14 against 185 other teams.
DPHS-South Campus’ team placed second among 32 other teams in Advanced Inventions. The team’s winning entry was “The Fire Storm,” a robot that searches around the forest looking for wildfires. Team members were Kyle Smithson, Josee Records, and Gary Lei. Cynthia Smithson and Scott Carroll were sponsors.
Deer Park Junior High’s “High Voltage” team of Cody Scarcella and Dawson Duncan placed first against 56 other teams in Intermediate Arena, while the school’s “J-Squared” team of Jacob Henson and Jacob Dyer placed fourth. Sponsors were Stacy Phillips and Leisa Davidson.
Carpenter Elementary students Brent Russell, Damian Caballero, Trevor Gibbs, and Joshua Mize placed 13th in the Intermediate Arena category, while the team of Danny Armendariz, Ethan Smith, Alex Coatney, and Wyatt Hale placed 27th. Carpenter sponsors were Terri Armendariz and Lindsey Taylor. Fifty-seven teams competed in the event.
TCEA’s Area 4 Robotics Competition for schools in the Houston area took place at Fairmont Junior High on Jan. 15. In addition to the aforementioned teams, many other Deer Park students qualified for state competition, including DPHS-South Campus students Cameron Alexander, Taylor Black, and Aminadab Morales, who competed in Advanced Arena. Another group from South Campus---Matthew Walmsley, Cameron Manley, and Holden Berryhill---advanced to state competition in Advanced Inventions.
