Reno High School’s JROTC program finished among the top 16 schools nationally at the recent Worlds Robotics Championships in Dallas, Texas. The seven-student team was at one point in second place during the competition before being eliminated in the quarter finals.
“An unbelievable amount of practice and passion and hard work went into the goal of getting to compete at this level, and I am beyond proud of our team,” said Nicole Sarafolean, a JROTC instructor at Reno High School who oversees the Robotics Team. “This is only the second year the Reno High School JROTC program has had a robotics team, and they found their way to the world competition!”
Teams from more than 40 countries showcase their skills at the world competition, qualifying through competitions throughout the school year before being invited to the elite event.
Reno High School’s team includes Kevin Valencia, Zachary Foster, Reeve Lester, Jazmin Tucker, Joshua Krum, Iliana Meneses, and Spencer Klupfell. Tucker is set to be the team captain next year, and attended the competition when current team captain Leo Ketcham was unable to attend.
The students built, coded and manipulated their own designs and robots. Each robot, the VEX V5 series of robots, had to meet certain specifications in order to compete. Each team had to accomplish certain tasks with their robots, and adapted their designs between matches to improve each round.
“I am impressed with the growth of our team over the past two years,” said Sarafolean. “The team did this all on their own. They worked together to solve problems, they encouraged each other, they stuck with it, and they never gave up. And that is why they earned their ticket to Worlds. I am so impressed with their Huskie grit, GO HUSKIES!”
Source: WCSD
