Natalia robotics team places at State

The 4th place trophy was brought home by Natalia’s Invention Team Hydrotech, consisting of Andrew Walsh, Priscilla Seaton, Sean Schroeder, and Anastasia Rodriguez. Their entry was a robotic low-water crossing system to provide safety for drivers in flooding conditions.

The Natalia High School Robotics team competed in the Texas Computer Education Association (TCEA) State Robotics Contest this weekend. For the second year in a row they brought home a trophy, placing 4th out of 38 state-wide teams in the Robotics Invention contest. This year marks the 9th year in a row for Natalia High School to have teams compete at the state level. The event took place on Saturday at Hutto High School in Pflugerville, TX, near Austin. Natalia had three teams qualify for the TCEA State contest to represent all schools 1A to 6A in Region 20. Natalia had two invention teams and one arena team in the contest. The students had a goal to make it to state for the ninth year in a row for TCEA and bring home a trophy and they were successful. Other teams competing from the Region were Academy of Excellence and Cole High School.
The 4th Place Trophy was brought home by Natalia’s Invention Team Hydrotech, made up of Andrew Walsh, Priscilla Seaton, Sean Schroeder and Anastasia Rodriguez. Their entry was a robotic low water crossing system to provide safety for drivers in flooding conditions. This marks the fourth year for juniors Walsh and Seaton to compete in the state contest and their second year in a row to come home with a trophy. Their team mates Schroeder and Rodriguez, both juniors as well, competed for the first time at the state level. All members will return next year.
The 2nd invention team for Natalia was made up of junior Dylan Modzelesky and sophomore Abram Jaime with their robotic pest control invention. This was Modzelesky’s second time to compete at state and Jaime’s first.
In the highly competitive arena contest, the Natalia team was made up of senior Jonathan Culver, and juniors Dustin Richardson, Chancelor Lamb and Nikolai Patino, as well as managers junior Samantha Lemus, and freshmen Christian Ferrin, Bradley Shellhouse, and Courtland Stehle. This was Richardson’s third year to compete at state, the second year to compete for Culver and Patino and the first for Lamb. They ended the day in 14th place out of 56 teams in the contest.
If you get a chance to speak to any of these students please congratulate them for their hard work and winning spirit. They have already set their goal for next year: Bring Home a Win in 10. The Natalia Robotics team is coached by Candace De Jesus. The team would like to send out a big thank you to all the district staff, school board members, fellow students, community, and parents for all their support throughout this and all past years. They would also like to thank all former Robotics students for creating the winning spirit and the foundation for success that continues to grow each year. A special thanks to Natalia teachers, Jaime Escobar and Herminia Saldivar for traveling with them to the contest as co-sponsors.