DETROIT (WXYZ) — On Friday, a pep rally was held for a Detroit middle school robotics team headed to the world robotics championship.
Excitement is an understatement to describe the energy inside Foreign Language Immersion and Cultural Studies' school gym. A band and dance squad from Mumford High School pepped everyone up.
Team Techno Phoenix #14010 has won a state championship. In just a matter of days, they'll be competing against students from 40 other countries in the FIRST Robotics World Championship in Houston, Texas. It takes place April 19 to April 23.
Their coach said they're the first middle school team from Detroit Public Schools Community District to accomplish this.
Tyneisha Powell, 14, told 7 Action News, “I’m very excited because I’ve been doing robotics since I was in the fourth grade, and it’s really a lot of fun. It’s a community that you can really find acceptance in.”
Aslan Fleming, 13, said, “As a Detroit team, we’ve made it really far here and once we realized that we made it, we saw people giving us acceptance and understanding how big this was for us.”
Their coach, Leon Pryor, said the team won an award for inspiration for helping improve robotics regionally, and he describes robotics an avenue to further success.
“We like to give a lot of our energy toward sports, but if you pick basketball, there’s .005% chance that you’re going to make it to the NBA. I think it’s .4% that you’ll make it to a Division 1 high school. All of my kids can go pro," he said.
Pryor added, "Every single one of them can become a professional engineer."
He said whether they go into a STEM field or not, the skills they develop will help them in any profession and as a productive adult.
“They can now look at a problem and dissect it and figure out and get to a solution and excel and then also look at that solution and say, is it good enough? Could it better? Can I push myself to a higher standard?" Pryor explained.
Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, who was also in attendance, said Pryor is a mentor and friend of his.
"I want to congratulate the Techno Phoenix team that I think is going to win the world championship," he told the crowd of students.
Gilchrist said Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's administration has continued to support robotics in Michigan through the budget.
“We have more teams than almost any other state because we recognize that this is what gives young people the kinds of experiences that will prepare them for success in the classroom, success in life, success in college and success in their careers," he said.
