The FIRST Robotics District Competition took place March 3-5 and featured 40 student teams from as far away as Mission and Pharr in the Rio Grande Valley to Alamogordo, New Mexico. Teams put their robots to the test in ball-tossing and bar-climbing contests.  

Texas State Technical College was a proud sponsor and supporter of the robotics district competition and encouraged graduating high school seniors to visit TSTC’s recruitment table to include their name in a drawing for two $12,000 scholarships. The tuition scholarships can only be used for TSTC’s Robotics Technology program in Waco. 

“TSTC is the premier provider of technical training for Texas, with 10 campuses across the state,” said Brian Reeves, an instructor in TSTC’s Robotics Technology program and an associate provost at the Waco campus. “We believe everyone deserves a great career in robotics or a related field.” 

FHS senior Noah River Pacheco, team captain of the Fe (Iron) Tigers robotics team, was one of the two scholarship recipients. The other scholarship recipient is a member of Black Hawk Robotics at Rockwall-Heath High School.  

Pacheco said it felt great receiving the scholarship. He has participated in robotics throughout high school. He said it was great for the team to bond throughout the year and stay late after school to work through robotics issues. 

“Robotics is really good for problem-solving and thinking through things,” Pacheco said. “I have grown as a person throughout high school and was nominated as team captain and driver.”