Umatilla High School Robotics Team headed to World Finals in Houston

UMATILLA, Ore. - The Umatilla High School Robotics Team is headed to Houston, Texas for a huge event: The World Championships. They won some awards along the way and need a little extra help in getting to their final competition.

Welcome to robotics where high school students design and build robots through a worldwide organization named FIRST. FIRST stands for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology and is a non-profit program that introduces students to engineering and coding that can help young people develop creative problem-solving, leadership and communication skills. In this annual competition, teams take their robots to earn points through driving, throwing and climbing on the field.

"You start off with just qualification competitions and if you win it there, then you go to the PNW campionships," said Avery Gutierrez, who is the team's senior project manager. "If you win it there, you go to Houston."

The FIRST Robotics competition gives students the opportunity to learn about topics from engineering to public speaking.

"It really helped me develop necessary skills that I may need into the future as well as the career I might be going into the future," said Rafael Garcia-Sanshez. Garcia-Sanshez works on marketing for the team.

Most students on the Umatilla Team, called Confidential, put in more than 100 hours during the two month build period. Their education is to their robot, but also, to bringing community members together.

"The community service part, it's just as important," said Gael Valenzuela, who serves as Confidential's junior project manager. "You need to give help to the people who have helped you because of the small donations they gave to us that helped start this team. It's just everything that we do here is fundamental to our successes. Nothing goes unseen."

There are various ways to earn points and awards to get to the World Finals. One of those is through an award called IMPACT. It's an achievment that recognizes a team's impact within the robotics community and beyond. According to FIRST, it is the most prestigious award teams can receive.

"There was one judge who was very shocked that we had such a supporting school and that we had classes to support the students," Gutierrez said. "The after-school program and the advocacy goes on many, many levels. We've gone to Washington D.C. for two years in a row in the summertime and helped to advocate. That's just one of the really big things that we enjoy doing and it allows students from Umatilla also to go and venture out."

Confidential received the IMPACT Award at the PNW Championships. The award sends the team and its robot to compete at the World Finals in Houston. The team is now a finalst for the IMPACT Award at the event as well. The team has 42 members and each one is looking forward to the cheering on, the competing and most of all, what they can learn from one another. They have been hard at work, preparing their robot for action.

"I know our DRIVE Team will do the best they can so I know our robot will do as good as it can," Valenzuela said. "It's going to be the best of the best at Worlds so I know we'll have competition."

The team has secured its spot at finals, but the cost to get to Houston is another challenge. Students said they are fortunate to have a supportive school board, grants and sponsors to help them cover the cost, but they need a little extra help. The team is hosting a yard sale this weekend at the Umatilla District Office from 8 a.m. - 1 p.m. in an effort to do some fundraising. The sale consists of donated items from the community.

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