McNeil and Westwood High School’s Robotics teams are celebrating the end of a successful competition season! Both teams made progress this year and earned recognition for their performance and technical skill at various tournaments.
Robotics provides students with a unique opportunity to collaborate as a team while exploring their interests in science, technology, and engineering. Through programs like FIRST Robotics, students work together to solve complex challenges, build technical skills, and develop friendships. These competitions foster innovation and creativity while teaching perseverance and teamwork.
McNeil’s team closed out its season by reaching the finals in one of two divisions at the state championship. The team finished with an 8-2 record in qualification matches, narrowly missing the playoff round. Earlier in the season, McNeil was a finalist at its first competition in Belton and finished third in Fort Worth after missing the final round by just a few points.
McNeil currently ranks No. 13 in Texas in scoring and No. 256 globally.
“To put that another way, we ended the season in the 93rd percentile of all Robotics teams worldwide,” said Gijs Landwehr, the computer science teacher and robotics coach at McNeil High School. “Our kids are still hungry for more. This is a group that can legitimately contend for state titles next year.”
At Westwood High School, the Tomahawk Robotics team capped off their season with a trip to the FIRST World Championship in Houston. The team competed in the Franklin Division and placed 16th out of 64 teams with a 7-3-0 record in qualification matches. Unfortunately, the Tomahawks were not selected for the elimination rounds.
Earlier in the season, the team took first place in its division at the FIRST in Texas Central Regional Championship and went undefeated in elimination rounds to win the overall title. The Tomahawks also earned a win as the first pick in the top alliance at the Central Semi-Area Championship in Austin and received the Control Award at the Central GEMS League Tournament.
“We are so proud of Westwood Tomahawk and McNeil Robobots for qualifying and attending the World Championships,” said Raine Maggio, director of Enrichment at Round Rock ISD. “These students are excelling not only in robotics and STEM, but also in their interpersonal skills as they work with teams from all around the world.”
