HOUSTON — More than 3,700 teams of teens from 43 countries are packed inside Houston's George R. Brown Convention Center for the next three days to compete in the 28th annual FIRST Robotics Championship.
A majority of the teams are from the United States, but one team, from Salt Lake City, Utah, is comprised of refugees and immigrants.
They call themselves 'The Underdogs' and they're representing Cottonwood High School.
"We did not expect us to get this far our first year," said Rachel Arlen. "Some of them don’t speak English very well, so communication can sometimes be hard."
The robotics team was established last year and this is their first year competing in a robotics competition.
Thirteen of the 14 students hail from Somalia, Nepal, Haiti, Brazil, Myanmar, Syria and Afghanistan, coming together to overcome barriers and cultural norms.
"You have to start from zero," said team captain Abdul Ayubi who moved to the United States of America from Afghanistan 14 months ago. "It’s my first time to work as a part of a team."
Many of the students have only recently moved to the U.S. and joined The Underdogs to strengthen their English, meet new people, fortify their STEM skills and prepare a path for the future.
They are all regular teenagers with one thing in common: robotics!
They made it to the championship during their inaugural year, which FIRST Robotics says is a huge accomplishment for any team.
And it's fitting that The Underdogs, which is a resourced-strapped team, only has one sponsor and used mostly donated tools to build their robot.
"It's a dream come true for a teacher," said Yuri Perez who works with the students. "If you give them the tools, they'll just go for it and they'll flourish."
If you want to support The Underdogs, you can donate on the school’s website here.
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