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Lee High's robotic team wins state at UIL championships

Lee High School's robotic team called the Roboto Muchachos competed in Austin this past Friday for the University Interscholastic League championships.
(Source: Alan Pitkin)
(Source: KWES)

MIDLAND, TX (KWES) - Lee High School's robotic team called the Roboto Muchachos competed in Austin this past Friday for the University Interscholastic League championships. After all their hard work, they came home winning state.

"If you don't dedicate yourself, you won't get anywhere. It helped all of us get to where we're at right now," said Christopher Pina.

The Roboto Muchachos spent this past year with long hours in between, put a working robot together which is able to perform tasks like picking up boxes and placing them in a specified location.

"I want to go into computer science so for the trial and error thing, you won't get it right the first time so it's rewarding when you get it done," said Joseph Granado.

It came with many challenges and technical problems, but perfecting it was crucial, especially when it came time for competition.

"In my opinon, everything worth chasing after is going to take trial and error," said Timothy Thames. "It won't just drop in front of you in a crystal platter."

The team won the Regional Panhandle Plains Championship, and the UIL State 5A-6A First Division Robotics Championship but as a Rookie team.

"Seeing those final points on the board, it was heartracing that we actually won, it was crazy we won state," said Adrian Ramon.

"It was kind of unreal because we never thought we'd get this far," said John Tarango. "If you dedicate yourself, it'll pay off in the end and I think that showed with our team and we put in that hard work and we secured that win."

But this experience will only prepare these guys for another round where they hope to win again next year.

"Mr. Pitkin, he really helped us a lot with the process and since this is our first year, we have to learn all of this stuff and he taught all of this stuff. He told us a lot of things to push us for next year," said Anthony Soria.

"I think it's special for this team is we stayed together," said Gabirel Herrera Jr. "We kept we always spent many hours together. We made a good bond and I think that's us motivating each other."

It's not just about building a robot. It's brainstorming, problem solving and putting those ideas into operation. That's the value of teamwork.

"It's that perseverance our group has and we're strong in our bond and we do make a great team," said Jaziel Madrid.

The robotics program is still in need of sponsors. If you or your company would like to sponsor them, contact Jami Owen with the MISD Education Foundation here.

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