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Vines High School Robotics, UIL 5A-6A Champions
October 18, 2021
At the October 5 board meeting, the Plano ISD board of trustees recognized the Vines High School "ViBots" the University Interscholastic League (UIL) Robotics Championship winners of the Texas Cup. The team competed on June 5 in San Antonio in the FIRST® Tech challenge state competition for 5A and 6A schools. After advancing from qualification rounds and elimination rounds, the “ViBots” were one of three teams that comprised the state championship alliance. The team is coached by Vines High School Career and Technical Education (CTE) teacher Michael Alves and parent mentor Alan Stevenson. The team worked many hours outside the school day which included colaboration with their corporate mentor Bill Beckmann with Hilte. Trustee Jeri Chambers thanked Hilte for their sponsorship of the robotics team during the recognition, "Having Hilte as a sponsor is a big deal. We appreciate Hilte and coaches for their support."
The championship team members are:
- Luke Pham
- Samien Rahman
- Hemachander Rubeshkumar
- Robert Stevenson
- Allison Stout
- Blake Thomas
Top Photo: Coach Michael Alves, Allison Stout, Luke Pham, Hemachander Rubeshkumar, Robert Stevenson, Samien Rahman, parent mentor Alan Stevenson, and Hilte mentor Bill Beckmann. Not pictured is team member Blake Thomas.
Bottom Left: UIL State Championship trophy; middle close up of robot, team members giving the board a demonstration of the robots skills at picking up and throwing objects as required by the challenge. Challenges change from year-to-year.
FIRST TECH robotics competition teams may include up to 15 members in grades 7-12. Teams, guided by adult coaches and mentors, are challenged to raise funds, market, design, build, program and operate their robots in competition. Robotics team members work collaboratively using critical thinking, creativity and innovation. Student participants develop beneficial knowledge and skills in STEM areas such as mechanical and software engineering, computer science and mathematics. Plano ISD is grateful to our corporate sponsors who supported competitive robotics last school year gifting $75,000 in through our Plano ISD Education Foundation.