Community Corner
SPHS Freshmen Win Regional Robotics Competition
Team mentor Richard Roberts, who teaches graduate students at USC, said the girls' level of input and focus looked more like PhD-level work than that of high school students.
The South Pasadena Unified School District recently honored a team of high school freshmen for winning the Los Angeles regional Botball 2013 robotics competition.
The South Pasadena High School team was comprised of three freshman, Karen Zhu, Helena Roberts-Mataric and Nastasia Carusetta. The girls scored first place in Seeding, Double Elimination and Overall Tournament Winner, Superintendent Joel Shapiro said during the May 28 governing board meeting. Additionally, they won the Outstanding Documentation Award and a Judge's Choice award for Engineering.
Botball 2013, an international educational autonomous robotics competition, was held at the Shrine Auditorium. From March to May the South Pas team spent umpteen hours desiging, assembling, programming and testing their robots, Eve and Wall-E.
Team mentor Richard Roberts, Helena's father and a professor at USC, said that the girls' level of input and focus was more in line with PhD-level students than high school kids.
"I was just very impressed,'' he said to a round of thunderous applause at the school board meeting.
To view a video of Roberts congratulating the girls, please click here.
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