WHO RUNS THE WORLD? Immokalee all-GIRLS robotics team goes to world championship

IMMOKALEE, Fla. — 10101 P Terazord got carefully packed and flew on an airplane for the first time to Dallas. It’s a robot, which isn’t the only one on the team taking their first flight. A few team members will fly for the first time, too.

Immokalee High School’s all-girls robotics team qualified for the VEX Robotics World Championships in March and will compete this weekend.

IHS Junior Liliana Trejo controls the robot.

“I’m really excited right now. I’ve never been to Dallas, Texas, but also, the whole worlds thing,” she said. “It’s a huge tournament. It’s just a really cool experience.”

She and her three other teammates will compete against more than 800 teams across 40 countries.

Fred Rimmler teaches engineering and robotics at IHS and has coached the team the whole year. The school has two other teams who didn’t qualify.

“Seeing these kids come in and spend day after day working on a robot and countless hours it’s really validating,” Rimmler said about Team 10101 P Terazord.

Rimmler said Monica Villas is that student who spends four to five hours a day working on the robot.

“You have to have a lot of communication, perseverance and patience because there is a lot of things that could go wrong with the robot,” Villas said.

This includes when a piece broke during practice., which they say is better now than later. Once their robot enters the competition, they can’t touch it, and it can’t tap out.

However, it’s more than just a game.

“A lot of girls aren’t really involved with robotics or engineering because they feel intimidated,” Villas said. “I guess we can all relate to that and just being able to you know qualify for such a big competition, it means a lot to us.”

The team returns at the end of this weekend, possibly with a trophy in hand.