School for Deaf competes for robotics title
Places 16 out of 58 teams statewide
April 15, 2013
HOUSTON (KXAN) – A team from the Texas School for the Deaf competed in last weekend’s state robotics championship in Houston and placed 16th in a field of 58.
The team that was only created two years ago and entered its first ever competition in January, and won.
Paul Stropko, an instructor at the Austin-based school said the students were well prepared.
“I think they’re a little nervous but I’m sure they have confidence,” he said. “They’ve been working really hard, testing really hard and building their self-esteem on it.”
All the teams in the competition were given the same parts kit. But they were free to devise their own robot, capable of scooping up the pegs. More points were earned for moving them to the right spot.
“We’re really proud of ourselves,” said Reno Jannett, a student, through a sign-language interpreter. “The deaf community is proud of us, a lot of people have come up and congratulated us because we’ve been working so hard. We’ve been successful to get first place so we know, I’m proud of myself, everybody’s proud of us.”
SOURCE: (Video, too!)
http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/local/austin/school-for-deaf-competes-for-robotics-title