The robotics team led their three robots Athena, Phobos, and Deimos to victory at the last regional VEX Robotics competition at University of Arkansas at Monticello on Feb. 11. All three robots qualified for the state competition that will be held March 4.

Phobos and Deimos qualified by winning the final elimination round as allies, and Athena qualified by receiving the excellence award. Athena is run by Bryant’s new all-girls team.

The girls team consists of sophomore Jade Ma, junior Maddie Miller, senior Stuti Chatterjee and freshman Kayla Vaughan.

“Winning the excellence award was probably my favorite part of Saturday,” builder and back up driver Chatterjee said. “[The award] is primarily based on the notebook, which I was the head editor of.”

These victories came from hours of collaboration and hard work.

“We [ended] up arriving at school around 6 [a.m] on Saturday,” junior builder Francisco Martinez said. “We went in ready to dominate, as Phobos is undefeated right now.”

Phobos won all qualification and elimination rounds, continuing its undefeated streak.

Competition days come with excitement, anticipation and high stress situations.

“The difficult part about competition days is being able to fix things on the spot,” junior driver Dhyan Thacker said. “After putting so many hours into it, my favorite part is seeing everything come together flawlessly.”

Preparation of robots happens in the newly added Robotics class held fifth period and at meetings that take place Mondays and Wednesdays after school until 5 p.m. As competition days draw closer, extended meetings take place as needed.

“The day before is where most of the packing and final checks are done,” Thacker said.

If the teams perform well at the state tournament, they could qualify for the world championship in Louisville, KY for the fifth consecutive year.

“Securing the win is my favorite part,” Martinez said. “[I] get that feeling that [I am] a part of a team that represents Bryant all the way and dominates every year with determination to be the best.”