The Stone Oak Elementary School robotics team is a force to be reckoned with. You wouldn’t believe that these are elementary school students when you see their capabilities. The team is gearing up for the 2024 Vex Robotics Competition, and the students have quickly divided themselves into sub-teams to prepare. Some students are setting up and coding the field where the robot moves, while others are working on coding and testing their code. Another group is busy building robots, while another is documenting the team’s progress. The demand for the team has doubled since it started at Stone Oak Elementary, prompting the teachers to apply for a NEEF grant to accommodate the growth.
With the grant funds, they were able to buy additional robots. Richard Nguyen, a 5th-grader on the team, finds building robots challenging but rewarding. He and his team are determined to make it to the nationals. Richard reminisces, “Competition might seem scary, but it is really fun.”
Anjali, another team member, loves to code and has her sights set on SETA, the Space and Engineering Technologies Academy of NEISD. Her ultimate goal is to attend college and start a career with NASA as a programming engineer.
The Stone Oak Robotics Team provides students with hands-on STEM experiences that inspire them to dream big. In addition to gaining expertise in STEM activities, the students also learn valuable skills such as collaboration and teamwork, which are essential in the STEM fields of work and study.
