Santa Fe—Students from Alamogordo and their robot stole the show at the New Mexico State Senate.
Senator Bill Burt (R-Alamogordo) introduced students from Alamogordo High School and Imago Day Academy who are team members of the 1513 Thunderdogs Robotics community team. The 6th graders to high school seniors participate in a six week design and build-a-robot challenge. When they complete the program, they will compete in the FIRST Robotics Competition in Lubbock, Texas and Denver, Colorado in March 2017.
Today, some of the team members demonstrated driving their robot in front of the New Mexico State Senate and practiced their presentation skills in front of the Senators, staff and body.
“Our students from Alamogordo certainly made me proud in front of my Senate colleagues. They impressed us with their knowledge of the robotics program, they charmed us with their fine presentation skills and they made us laugh when they demonstrated how fast the robot could go. It spun around, throwing off some of its pieces and making everyone chuckle. I understand, the robot is not completely finished yet, and now it might need a little repairing,” Senator Burt said smiling.
The Regional Director of FIRST, Cynthia Stong, said the focus of the team is to spread the appreciation of STEM, which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, to their classmates and to teach leadership, innovation and entrepreneurship.