
Deer Park ISD hosted its STEM Showcase at Fairmont Junior High on Saturday, and over 500 students, parents, volunteers, and community members showed up to witness science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in action. Highlights of the Showcase included elementary robotics, junior high robotics, a science fair, elementary and secondary maker spaces, and high school computer science courses.
The event ended with the official District robotics competition, which included three areas of competition: Molecule Mania, Inventions, and Battle Bots. Molecule Mania is a programming competition for which students program robots to manipulate objects on a board. Inventions allows students to create and present an invention of their own using Lego bricks and robotics kits. Students are judged on their created prototype, computer program, research data, presentation skills and much more. Battle Bots features two robots going head-to-head against each other in the arena with students using an iPad-based remote control of their design. The object is to either flip or pin the opposing robot against the wall for 10 seconds.
All competitions were a great success showcasing the many talents and skills of elementary robotics students across the District. Winning Teams included:
Molecule Mania
1st place –Lil’Tech, Carpenter Elementary
Erica Viera
Alexis Acosta
Isabelle Towery
2nd place – I Like Turtles, Carpenter Elementary
Jonathan Mata
Sebastian Unate
Brayden Trahan
Finley Smiley
Peyton Warren
3rd place –Noodles, Carpenter Elementary
Cube Rosales
Adam Castellano
Robert Hernandez
Anthony Smith
Inventions
1st place – Fantastic Four, Deer Park Elementary
Flauren Miller
Paige Hathhorn
Lucy Richardson
Kiley Adams
2nd place – Texas Tech, Deer Park Elementary
Cailyn Smith
Davin Lohman
Aaron Badgett
Molly Abele
3rd place – Teletubbies, Deer Park Elementary
Sean Dupuis
Colt Turner
Blane Abshier
Aiden Moore
Battle Bots
1st place – Rolex, Carpenter Elementary
Jeffery Daniels
Joel Perez
2nd place – Noodles, Carpenter Elementary
Cube Rosales
Adam Castellano
Robert Hernandez
Anthony Smith
3rd place – I Like Turtles, Carpenter Elementary
Jonathan Mata
Sebastian Unate
Brayden Trahan
Finley Smiley
Peyton Warren
DPISD junior high robotics competed in the First Lego League Into Orbit competition for the first time this year. The three categories were board, project, and core values. Teams had to work together to compete, present, and solve problems in these three different categories.
Junior high Robotics winners were:
1st place – Pirates, Deepwater Junior High
Daniel Rodriguez
David Juarez
Ricke Barrow
Julian Alvarado
Isaiah Fernandez
Felipe Tejeda
Chris Mellon
Francisco Cardenas
Amir Alvarez
Samantha Herrera
2nd place – Titan Moon, Bonnette Junior High
Michael Cudney
Juan Montelongo
Elias Mottu
Giovanny Ledesma
Alex Acosta
3rd place – The Nerd Herd, Deer Park Junior High
Rex Kramer
Jackson Fuqua
Ian Schoen
Lukas Chatenet
Kody Keo
Nathan Balderas
Famian Ramirez
Haden Bull
4th place – Planet 9, Fairmont Junior High
Iliana Aguilar
Jet Banister
Andrew Brown
Haden Burns
Christian Hernandez
James Loyless
Fouzan Raza
Zachary Valdez