McAllen, Texas – We are excited to have been included in the recent edition of the Texas Workforce Solutions (TWS) spring / summer edition that is published by the Texas Workforce Commission. While the edition spotlights the amazing work being done at the state level by FIRST in Texas, it shows our Rio Grande Valley teams and our great volunteer, David Ruiz of Nikki Rowe High School as a referee during the recent University Interscholastic League (UIL) championship held in Austin, Texas.

FIRST is a science, technology, engineering and math ( STEM ) organization that inspires students in K-12 to build and program a robot; while learning key soft skills in marketing, business planning, public speaking and more.

During the UIL event, there were five teams from the Rio Grande Valley invited to participate in the battle for the state championship title in both the 4A and 5A/6A categories. These teams included, Lajoya ISD – Thelma Salinas TSTEM, Mission ISD – Patriot Engineering, Vanguard Academy – FTC Team and McAllen ISD – Nikki Rowe, McAllen ISD – McAllen High School.

McAllen ISD – McAllen High School alliance partners won the gold (1st place) at the UIL state competitive robotics title for 2017-2018.

Mission ISD – Patriot Engineering alliance partners won the silver (2nd place) at the UIL state competitive title for 2017-2018.

Also spotlighted in the edition is the Mission ISD – Mighty RoboRangers – FRC Team 5960 that is a veteran team here in the Rio Grande Valley that has been an inspiration and leader to the rest of the RGV FIRST community. While the RoboRangers is primarily a FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) team, they do find the time to coach a FIRST Lego League Jr (FLLJr) and FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) team to promote a great pathway of students in robotics at Mission ISD.

READ THE LATEST EDITION OF THE TEXAS WORKFORCE SOLUTIONS / SPRING – SUMMER EDITION HERE.