It’s a Wednesday afternoon at Winnetka Elementary School, and while class is over for the day, students are still sitting in a classroom intently focused on the work in front of them.
Forget after-hours tutoring. These kids are building robots to compete at state-level contests and beyond.
And they’re winning. A lot.
In 2016, Winnetka Elementary formed a co-ed, competitive robotics team. The team was instantly a success and won awards at many state competitions. They have since progressed to national and international championships.
In 2019, an all-girls team was created after too many students signed up for the co-ed team. The girls team earned multiple high-ranking awards in its first season, and now, a third team for older, co-ed students has joined the Winnetka extracurricular lineup.
The robust student interest is an opportunity for even more students to benefit from the skills robotics teaches, says coach Cassandra Benavides.
“Robotics does help you teach lifelong skills,” Benavides says. “You’re going to have to learn to communicate with others, work as a team and just be ready for anything.”
Jeremy Williams, a Talented and Gifted teacher at Winnetka, started the robotics program after the idea had been floated around campus for a few years without a sponsor to pick it up.
Once Williams initiated the program, students from third to fifth grade began to meet several times a week after school to work on designs, coding and tasks for the robots to complete.
During the 2022-23 school year, second graders were allowed to join.
Students who join the robotics team consistently show increases in test scores as well as self-esteem, according to Dallas ISD.
The current coaches of the teams are second grade teachers Ruby Rosales and Cassandra Benavides. Benavides has been with the teams for several years, and Rosales joined in the 2022-23 school year.
The pair teaches teamwork with an emphasis on building relationships that strengthen the team.
“You have your strong kids that have that personality who become the leaders of the team, and then you have the ones who might be a little bit in the background,” Benavides says. “You might have one or two shy students on a team, which is normal, and then they start feeling comfortable practicing together. It was neat to see.”
To be eligible for the team, students must have good grades and few discipline issues. Second graders on the team tend to stick with the program through fifth grade, Benavides says.
All interested students, even veterans, must try out for the team each year. There are many roles on the team — robot programmers, drivers and code writers who take photos — and as students rejoin the team over the years, they are able to switch their roles.
“It’s challenging for the kids, but it’s not anything that they are not willing to learn,” Rosales says. “They accept the challenge, and they go for it.”
During competitions, teams are paired up with each other to collaborate on tasks. The teams, especially at the state and world levels, may not necessarily speak English.
Rosales says the fast-paced and intense nature of the competitions are another benefit to team members.
“The kids have to think on their toes, they think at the moment,” Rosales says. “They have to learn how to communicate and collaborate with the other teams.”
