Teens use science and technology skills to compete in Anne Arundel's robot showdown
BALTIMORE -- Hundreds of teenagers participated in a robot showdown at a school in Anne Arundel County on Saturday.
They gathered at the Archbishop Spalding High School to show off their science and technology skills.
First Chesapeake hosted the championship to expose STEM-based learning to the young generation.
"I'm really excited to be like a woman in STEM," Winston Churchill High School student Saniya Shah said. "I know there obviously is a gender gap here. I've been lucky enough in our local community to be faced with any bias or anything."
Shah traveled from Potomac with her team called the Metal Masterminds, also known as the M&Ms.
For months, the M&Ms have worked on creating a kiwi drive to showcase their physics, mobility and computer 3-D printing design.
The group effort teaches students like Shah skills like leadership and communication.
That's how they learn to persevere when they encounter a problem or think outside the box when they are faced with difficulties, FIRST Chesapeake Program Coordinator Shelly Stoddard said.
FIRST Chesapeake Executive Director Scott Turnbull said the teenagers impressively displayed those skills during the competition.
"Their ability . . . to talk to one another, to collaborate, and to see other teams and their robots absolutely raises their game," Turnbull said. "I believe we have the best competition in the country here."
The winners of the competition will go on to compete in the world championships in Texas this April.
