Goose Creek teams fare well at Junior Robotics Competition

Both Goose Creek CISD Junior Robotics teams advanced to the semifinal rounds at the FIRST LEGO LEAGUE’S Regional Qualifying tournament conducted at the University of Houston this month and finished within the top quarter of the 95 teams competing. Each team competed in two areas of competition: robot construction and computer programming emphasizing specific task completion as well as a research presentation dealing with specific climate change topics.

The I-BOTS research team, coached by Sheryl Ford of Harlem Elementary, won first place out of the 50 teams competing in that category. Their report concerned the effects of climate on soil erosion in Baytown. FIRST LEGO LEAGUE’S theme for 2008 was “Climate Connections Challenge” / discovering the link between science, people, resources and communities. Teams were asked to delve into questions about current and future climate changes.

The I-BOTS, coached by Beth Banks of Harlem Elementary, completed the first round of semifinal sudden death playoffs while the LOCOROBOTOS, coached by Keith Cummings of Horace Mann Junior School, advanced to round two of the semifinal playoffs in a separate heat. The LOCOROBOTOS under the direction of research coach Suzie Ferrell of Horace Mann Junior School received the Judge’s Award for their explanation during the questioning phase of the semi-finals.

The 25 members of the two teams, recruited from 5th – 8th grade students at campuses across the district, have been preparing for competition since October. I-BOTS team members include Jonathan Cauthen, David Chapman, Jada Charles, Micah Craft, Rachel Galvan, Alondra Garcia, Geoffrey Glaspie, Miriam Heredia, Shawyan Landi, Sean McCafferty, Jamie Ornelas, Ryan Richard, and Siavash Zamirpour. LOCOROBOTOS team members include T.J. Avalos, Shruti Bam, Christopher Contreras, Bryon Cummings, Jordon Fischer, Seth Foster, Rishabh Gadi, Jonathan Ibarra, Michael Lahowetz, Shubhungi Mundhada, Jeremy Otahal, and Dhvani Shukla.