The West Ward Elementary School Wildcats robotics team is a state champion.

The 15-year-old club, with five years worth of regional plaques on the wall, brought home its first state level trophy following the FIRST Lego League event at Leander earlier this month.

To be honest, longtime robotics coach Alexis Sommers said she didnt think she would ever see it happen. But, this year, her students told her they had a good feeling.

After they performed for the judges, they said they could feel it, Sommers said Tuesday as she and her students and parents and other supporters dug into some celebratory pizza and ice cream.

Their feeling was correct and the West Ward team brought home one of seven trophies awarded at the state level among 53 teams competing. The Wildcats won for presentation, a nod to the students creativity and cooperation.

Fifth-grader AnnaleceFlewellen, the main scriptwriter for the state award-winning skit, said when they won the award, she screamed. Her coach cried.

This is like winning a state championship, Sommers said. They surprised me. The level of competition is intense.

To give perspective, the West Ward teacher and robotics coach pointed out that the FLL events include elementary and middle school teams.

It took West Wards team nine years to qualify for the state event. Since that time, the Cats have qualified for state every year five years in a row now.

I let them run with it, she said. This group is good at singing and acting. Thats where they excelled. It made me cry.

This years theme was Animal Allies, so the theatrically inclined team members put together a skit based on a frustrated pet owner and his three misbehaving cats.

The veterinarian calls in the cat whisperer, Flewellen, who diagnoses a series of easy-to-make pet toys, which calm the hyper cats.

The robotics competition awards trophies for core values, design, research/presentation and an overall championship. All teams that win trophies must be competitive in all areas.

The judges liked our creativity and humor, Flewellen explained. We were super-happy. I screamed.

The fifth-grader said she enjoys robotics because it combines technology like programming skills with the creativity of design and presentation, as well as teamwork.

A 28-year teacher, Sommers is a good example of the diversification that comes into play in robotics competition. She is most naturally an art teacher, but has embraced the technical creativity of building robots.

This group really worked on creativity, she said. Other teams counted on the technology, but its that innovation that is so important. You have to pay attention to all aspects.

Soon, in the West Ward hallway outside the classroom where Sommers keeps the schools robotics competition table, a state-level trophy will take up space along with multiple regional plaques and a new team will prepare to compete again.

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West Ward wins robotics championship - The Killeen Daily Herald