Third Graders Place Third in Global Robotics Competition – Story – RGVProud

MCALLEN, Texas - The fields of science, technology, engineering and math may be dominated by males. But after getting global recognition for a project they worked on, two girls from McAllen are hoping to bridge the gender gap in STEM careers.

Siena Molinaro and Ena Garza have plenty to celebrate after earning Third Place in a Global Robotics competition that had over 20,000 students participating.

The fact that they were one of top three teams in the competition had the girls from Dr. Pablo Perez Elementary in some disbelief.

Siena Molinaro, "I was pretty surprised that we got third. I feel like we're really lucky to be in coding, and I think it was a great opportunity and I'm so glad that we got third."

Ena Garza, "I think it's just really fun to do. It's a great opportunity to show that women are also able to do many things that men aren't.

The competition was organized by a worldwide network of coding and robotics clubs, also known as the Wonder League.

Teams of students between the ages of 6 and 12 had access to one set of dash and dot robots that the students would program using coding. For Siena, Ena and their coding coach Cynthia Cooksey, it wasn't easy to achieve what they did.

Cynthia Cooksey, "We had some difficulties. Especially in the final challenge. The girls actually had to come up with a device that can carry two balls and deposit one in location, and one in another location. We tried several things. It's a trial and error process, and when they finally hit on something, it was phenomenal. Just seeing it come together was an awesome feeling for all of us."

44% of the participants were girls, but Ena and Siena would like to see that number grow and have one message for all kids, especially girls that want to get into coding.

Siena, If you think you can do something, but everyone says you can't... Don't not try. If you keep practicing and keep trying then you can really accomplish your goals."

Ena, "Never give up, and if you want to do it as much as you love yourself, then go for it and do the best that you can at all times."

The girls' coding coach added that next year their school plans on having more teams participate in the competition.

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Third Graders Place Third in Global Robotics Competition - Story - RGVProud