For the first time ever, GCISD Collegiate Academy’s robotics team is advancing to the UIL 3A/4A BEST Robotics state competition. The team earned their place after competing at the Cowtown BEST robotics competition held Friday and Saturday, October 31 and November 1, at Kennendale High School.
CA’s team name is the “MECHS,” a play on a blend of “Mechanics” and ‘ECHS,’ which stands for Early College High School and is the purpose of the campus.
Advisor Sarah Roberts said that students had to design and build a robot, research and document their work with an engineering notebook, and develop a proposal for marketing their design. All of these were judged activities at the competition.
At the event, teams competed head-to-head in three-minute rounds and were awarded points for the robot completing designated tasks.
The state competition will be held Thursday-Saturday, December 11-13, at Dallas Fair Park.
Grapevine High School’s Career and Technical Education Engineering 2 class also built and fielded a robot for the event. They competed in the recreational (non-UIL) division, making it all the way to the semifinals.
GHS and Colleyville Heritage High School robotics teams are currently preparing for upcoming drone and robotics competitions taking place later in November, which begin their competition season.
This is CA’s third year competing in BEST (Boosting Engineering, Science, and Technology) Robotics. BEST was started in 1993 to inspire middle and high school students to pursue careers in professional careers like engineering, science and technology.
Congratulations to GCISD’s teams and good luck to CA at state!