Ravenclaw Robotics is the only public middle school team in Texas to qualify for state.<\/p>\n
PLANO, Texas When Rice Middle School in Plano decided to start a girls-only robotics team last year, coach Anya McCarthy believed they had the skills to compete with anybody.<\/p>\n
What her team didnt have was confidence.<\/p>\n
At first, I was pretty skeptical about it, said eighth grader Aahana Shrivastava.<\/p>\n
High school teams and private school teams have much more funding and experience than us, added seventh-grader Louisa Xu. We didnt have much confidence that we could beat them.<\/p>\n
We didnt really have this goal of, oh were going to go to state,' because we didnt really believe that, sixth-grader Aarini Sen echoed.<\/p>\n
In fact, no public middle school from North Texas had ever qualified for the state meet, and these girls didnt know the first thing about building a robot.<\/p>\n
Still, the Ravenclaw Robotics teamwhich is what they call themselvesworked tirelessly, oftentimes staying at school until nearly midnight.<\/p>\n
Ive never had a team that was that determined, McCarthy said. The more we went through it, it just fueled us.<\/p>\n
Even though other teams had more experience and some even had 10 times as much money, the girls were undeterred.<\/p>\n
They entered their first competition - and won. Then won again. In fact, they won four times before competing virtually in the regional meet a few weeks ago.<\/p>\n
The top team at regional qualifies for state.<\/p>\n
Only about half of the scoring is determined by the performance of the robot. The other half comes from outreach: the more teams give back to their communities, the better the score.<\/p>\n
While Ravenclaw built a robot good enough to compete with the rest, they outdistanced the competition when it came to service.<\/p>\n
They helped get their school a wheelchair, mentored younger girls about STEM-related subjects and raised money to help fund their program.<\/p>\n
Still, winning at the regional meet was a longshot. But they pulled it off. Ravenclaw Robotics is the only public middle school team in Texas to qualify for state.<\/p>\n
There was so many happy tears and screaming, said McCarthy, who actually cried when her team was announced as the winner.<\/p>\n
We actually really got to state, Shrivastava said. I was like, no way!<\/p>\n
The state meet kicks off June 11, and whether or not these girls have a robot capable of winning, they said doesnt matter.<\/p>\n
By making it this far, they have already proven something to themselves.<\/p>\n
Girls can accomplish just as much as boys, Sen said.<\/p>\n
We are capable of many things, Shrivastava added. We are strong, hardworking and we dont let people take us down.<\/p>\n
Regardless of the outcome at state, coach McCarthy said shes already beaming.<\/p>\n
Im so proud, she said.<\/p>\n
Still, theyre going to do everything they can to win.<\/p>\n
Thats our plan, McCarthy said with a laugh.<\/p>\n
Sounds like theyve engineered plenty of confidence.<\/p>\n
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Excerpt from: <\/p>\n
Only one public middle school qualified for the state robotics meet: an all-girls team from Plano - WFAA.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ravenclaw Robotics is the only public middle school team in Texas to qualify for state. PLANO, Texas When Rice Middle School in Plano decided to start a girls-only robotics team last year, coach Anya McCarthy believed they had the skills to compete with anybody. What her team didnt have was confidence Continue reading