Tenaha Middle School, High School Robotics Busy Competing

Tenaha Middle School robotics'  teams are seen preparing for upcoming meets.

December 8, 2015 - The Tenaha ISD Robotics teams have been busily competing at several meets in the last few weeks.

Kamari Gray and Kelly Sandoval proudly showing off the team trophy!First the Middle School and High School teams traveled to Kilgore on November 19th, to compete in the Region VII competition. For this competition the theme was an underwater exploration. Both Middle School and High School teams had to build a robot that could throw a life preserver to a man overboard, retrieve old World War II mines from the ocean and place them in containers, retrieve treasure from a sunken ship, go over a bridge and use a light sensor to follow a certain path.

At the High School level there were 65 teams from schools all across East Texas. Blane Cummings and Jacob Samford’s team placed third while the team of Miguel Mendoza and JR Wagstaff placed fifth. Other Tenaha students participating in the contest were: Calvin Estes, Caleb Garcia, Hernan Hernandez, and Ruben Hernandez.

The Middle School also competed in this same contest against 71 teams. The team of Gracie Martinson, Kale Page, Guadalupe Sandoval placed 10th while the team of Lourdes Perez and Chad Rogers placed 15th. The teams were then given another challenge and had 2 hours to build and program their robot. The team of Kamari Gray, Kelly Sandoval, and Brandon Soto came in third in this competition. Other students competing in contest were: Nicholas Anderson, Konner Barber, Irvin Barona, Jatorian

JR Wagstaff (right) and Miguel Mendoza (left) placed 5th in the High School Region VII Robotics Competition.Calloway, Addy Duncan, Jalynn Durbin Sarahi Flores, Wesley Fox, Kamari Gray, Drew Henry, Michael Kellar, Colton Kimbrough, Corey McDonald, Pacey Rhodes, Kelly Sandoval, Brandon Soto, Jared Tovar, Andrew Tyner, Erik Vazquez, and Nicholas Watson.

The students then had two weeks to build another robot for their next competition which was held Saturday, December 5th, in UT Tyler. For this contest teams had to build a robot that could create Super Batteries. In order to construct a super battery the robot had to place a wiffle-style ball on top of a PVC coupler and then move this to a shipping box without it coming apart. The students also had to install a lightening tower on the factory and recycle old batteries. There were 52 teams at this competition from schools all across East Texas the schools with classifications from 2A to 6A.

High School participants were: Blane Cummings, Caleb Garcia, Hernan Hernandez, Ruben Hernandez, Miguel Mendoza, Jacob Samford, JR Wagstaff. At the Middle School level the team of Kamari Gray and Kelly Sandoval placed third. Other Middle School participants were: Irvin Barona, Jatorain Calloway, Jalynn Durbin, Wesley Fox, Gracie Martinson, Drew Henry, Kale Page, Jared Tovar, Andrew Tyner, and Erik Vazquez.

Blayne Cummings (left) and Jacob Samford (right) proudly display their third place plaque from the High School Region VII Robotics Competition.Sponsor, Mrs. Brenda Farmer, said she is very proud of the effort each and every one of the students have put forth this year for these competitions. She also said these students are our problem solvers and leaders. They are constantly working on solutions for these contests. These students are training for engineering and computer science jobs in the future that probably have not even been invented yet.

Upcoming contest for the Elementary Robotics teams, 4th and 5th grade, will be held in Kilgore, on Monday, December 14th.