Local robotics students team up for special delivery

ROCKWALL, TX (Jan. 26, 2015) A couple of Rockwall County robotics teams joined forces with robotics squads from Greenville and Quinlan during the Christmas holidays to make a positive impact on the lives of a local family which had fallen on hard times.

Over the Christmas holidays, Black Hawk Robotics of Rockwall-Heath High School and VEX-U team APEX of Rockwall learned of a local family which would not be able to afford a Christmas dinner, let alone gifts to put under the tree. Not only that, the family was also forced to purchase a used car after the cost of repairs to their previous car outweighed the value of it.

In a joint effort with VEX teams 26, 4000, and 4000X of Greenville and Quinlan, the two Rockwall County teams used money they raised over the summer as well as from their own pockets to see to it that the family had a proper Christmas dinner. Not only that, but the teams also were able to raise enough money to pay for the registration fees and taxes on the car the family just bought.

“We do lots of things for the community, but this one felt personal because we got to meet the family in person,” said Black Hawk Robotics team member and Rockwall-Heath junior Sam Selle. “When we found out about the family, we thought, if we can help them, then why wouldn’t we?”

Sam’s younger brother and Black Hawks teammate, Ben Selle, said that getting to meet the family and learning of their unfortunate situation gave him a whole new perspective.

“It opened my eyes,” Ben, a freshman at Rockwall-Heath, said. “You don’t really see a lot of people in their situation. It felt good to be able to help.”

The teams also pitched in to provide a VEX Hexbug 4-in-1 robotics kit to the family’s son and helped foster his interest in robotics.

The robotics program teaches math and engineering skills – along with critical thinking and logic – through regional, national and international competition while encouraging a new generation of scientists, mathematicians and engineers throughout communities worldwide.

By Austin Wells, Blue Ribbon News staff writer and reporter. 

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