Sahuaro Robotics has had an eventful year competing and building their robots. One group in particular, the all-girls team 92610D, who call themselves M3cha, has been awarded the Judges Award twice this year. This award is given to the most dynamic and cohesive team, out of all teams present in the tournament. In the eight years that Mr. Davis and Mr. Christian have been coaching robotics at Sahuaro, these girls are the first team to win it, and win it twice!

Seniors Emmalee-Kate Dodge and Benite Luhando; freshmen Nell Kpakpo and Rainey Conder; and their loveable robot, Tobias, are the brains, and bots behind the awards. This is the first year in Robotics for each of them. Rainey got recruited by Mr. Christian because she was in his computer science class, and they needed another person for the team. Nell wants to build her own technology company so for her, this is “stage 1”. Benite is going to go into engineering and the medical field, so robotics is a good fit for her. Emmalee joined because she saw posters around the school. All four girls are in one of Mr. Christian’s classes.

The first time they won this award was at a home competition with 28 teams, and the second time was at a Phoenix competition with 40 teams. Emmalee said, “The first time it was good winning it, but it was at our school, so I was kind of like, ‘I feel like we didn’t really deserve it.’ but then we won it at another school, and I was like okay, there are 40 teams there and we won it, we definitely deserve the first one too.” These girls have put their hearts into the competition, and these awards are a reflection. Robotics Coach Mr. Christian said, “It’s a big award because it’s the award that the judges feel is the most dynamic team, the best personality, and they look at every single team there, so the girls winning – that means they really made a good impression on the judges.”

The Judges will ask them about the process of building their robot, what everyone’s roles are, how the team gets along, how the process was done within the team, and look at their engineering notebook. Each member of the team contributes to engineering and building the bot, but Emmalee is the main coder, with help from the others. Their team’s bond is strong, and they bring the hype! No matter if they’re winning or losing, or how stressful a tournament can be, they’re energetic, loud, and rowdy, which leads other teams to think they’re ranked higher because they keep the positivity up compared to the other groups who tend to be quiet. There are only about 6 awards that are given out, and they’re going against some of the best teams in the state, so Mr. Davis said, “…for them to go with that group and get the Judges Award just shows how well they work together, and how well they embody the spirit of VEX.”

Winning these awards as an all-girls team in a male-dominated field is already an achievement in itself, but Nell pointed out that she, Emmalee, and Benite were also the only Black people at the competition. Benite said it felt, “…good because like, I felt like that was a little bit more fun, it just made everything different.” Emmalee said, “It’s great,” and she felt, “If there was a guy on this team, he would probably be an outcast – I’m not even going to lie.” These girls are paving the way for minorities in the STEM world, and they’re doing an amazing job at it.

Even when the tournaments become hard, stressful, or long, the girls always keep their energy up. Home tournaments usually go from 6 AM to 9 or 10 PM because they need to set up, and it’s hard to find volunteers willing to set up that early. Away tournaments are easier because they get on a bus and head there, compete, and head back. These bus rides are some of their favorite memories, especially the one from their most recent competition in Phoenix because in the morning they were all sleepy, but on the way back they were sleep-deprived and messing around and playing truth or dare. Their energy on the bus doesn’t go unnoticed, and Mr. Christian said, “It’s a good group of girls.  They work hard together, they’re here all the time. The bus rides are really fun because they’re always giggling, laughing, and joking the whole time. So, I can see why they win this kind of award.” 

The freshmen will continue to be in the Robotics club next year, and Benite encourages everyone to join Robotics because the team has had a lot of fun, and even the stressful parts can be special to them! Robotics helped with their problem-solving skills, and they now have an easier time fixing their robot, whereas before they’d take it all apart. Their season is wrapping up, with their last tournament on February 17th, which Mr. Davis said they call “the last chance qualifier” because it’s the last chance for teams to qualify for State, but every year they start up around the beginning of the school year with an informational meeting, and reoccurring meetings every Tuesday and Thursday, in room 404.