2 Woodlake robotics teams preparing for competitions in Boston and Long Beach

WOODLAKE, Calif. (KFSN) — In Woodlake, students are showing off their STEM skills.

Two elementary school robotics teams are making plans to head off to major competitions.

It may look like fun and games, but there’s a lot of hard work and a few headaches that go into these robotics.

Khaos Utumapu is a sixth-grade student on the “Wildcat Coders” team at Castle Rock Elementary School in Woodlake.

“I’m really glad I did join because it’s been really fun and had an amazing experience,” Utumapu said.

The team is made up of fifth and sixth-grade students.

They’re practicing for the upcoming US Open Robotics tournament in Boston.

It’ll be the second time Khaos has attended. She went as a fifth grader.

“Last year, I did feel more pressure because I didn’t know how things would go. I was scared, like what if something happened to our bot,” Khaos said. “This year, I don’t feel as overwhelmed. I feel calmer.”

During the competition, the team will have two minutes and 30 seconds to complete up to 15 tasks, or missions.

Fifth-grade teacher and robotics coach, Alex Castellanoz, says they’re hoping to complete 10 in the allotted time.

“I’m not trying for perfection. We’re just trying to get up there with the upper echelon of teams and just be noticed,” Castellanoz said.

The robotics program in Woodlake expanded this year by adding a fourth-grade team called “The Stripes.”

They work closely with the “Wildcat Coders” to help build the program and did better than expected at their first competition.

“They were very, very talented and they came out making waves for sure,” Castellanoz said.

Maddox Castellanoz is part of “The Stripes” and enjoys coding, most of the time.

“It was sometimes easy and sometimes hard,” Maddox said.

He and his teammates are heading to compete in Long Beach against more than 30 West Coast teams in the Western Edge Open tournament.

“I feel a little scared, but I know our robotics team can do with it because we’ve been practicing a lot with the robot,” Maddox said.

The Woodlake Unified School District is paying to ensure every child on the Wildcat Coders and The Stripes can go to the tournaments.

The group is fundraising to help offset the cost for parents to attend.

They have set up a GoFundMe account, which you can find here, if you’d like to donate.

Coach Castellanoz hopes each team will be able to bring back some hardware from the competition.

“Whatever it is, we just want to come home with something that says ‘Hey look, we competed against the best and we came home with something.'” Castellanoz said.

The fourth-grade Stripes will be heading to Long Beach from May 31st through June 2nd.

Then the Wildcat Coders will be heading to Boston June 7th to 9th.

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