Downey High School is home to our very own robotics team, The Striking Vikings. The team’s most crucial months have been these most recent ones as they get ready for their competition in Utah. Our robotics team talks about what happens in the background, how they’ve been preparing, and what to expect.

Gio Aguirre, 12, has been a member of the Striking Vikings team for 4 years. He explains how he feels about this upcoming competition. Aguirre explains, “I feel pretty good, I think this year we’ve been functioning as a team compared to last year.” 

He goes on to state, “Last year coming out of COVID was hard, but this year I’ve seen a lot of leadership from many people on the team, and that leadership helped boost the whole team collectively so I think I have one big plus from this year.”

With this being his final competition in Utah, Jaime Valdvoinos, 12, describes how much of his time and the teams’ is spent on preparing for competition. Valdovinos explains  “It depends on where we are in the season because everyone has a different role on the team. So since I was more of a builder,  once the main parts of the robot got done. . . But during peak season, I’d say we’re working on that robot from 6th period till 10 pm.”

Amber Venegas, 12, explains how she’s feeling about this competition. Venegas explains that she is  “Most excited to cheer everybody on and really just bring the spirit” during the competition. 

Venegas also explains how the drive team has spent their time preparing, “We put hours into building the robot as a team, collectively, but to prepare for the competition. The drive team spends a lot of hours getting to know the robots with things on how to fix it, drive it, and getting to know the robot.”

As they continue to work as a team and dedicate their time to improving, they will keep this work ethic and the same hustle to prepare for their next competition in Hawaii.