DETROIT – On the afternoon of Feb. 10, immediately after students were dismissed from Detroit’s Foreign Language Immersion and Cultural Studies School (FLICS) after a long week of studying French, language arts, math, science and social studies, Tyneisha Powell headed down to a small room tucked away in the school’s basement for more academic rigor — but not for extra credit.
And the eighth grader was not alone. She was joined by seven other middle school students, two adults and a robot.
You see, this was a meeting of the FLICS middle school robotics team. And they needed to prepare to take on the world, so to speak.
The FLICS robotics team has been invited to the International 2023 FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Championship, where the group will compete against other top robotics teams from around the globe during a four-day competition that will take place April 19-23 in Houston. If the event is anything like the 2022 version of this international competition, the FLICS students will come face-to-face with other young people representing more than 40 countries.
“It feels really good to represent the city. We’re going all the way to Houston and a lot of people won’t know who we are, so it will be great to get the Motor City out there to let other people know that we can do this too!” said a confident Powell, captain of FTC (FIRST Tech Challenge) Team 14010 Techno Phoenix, which is how the FLICS team is known in competitions.
At the international championship, Powell will serve as her team’s driver coach. To help guide her team’s robot through multiple, intricate tasks while on the clock, in a pressure-packed environment, will require Powell to demonstrate poise and leadership skills that she also will need later in life.
“I have a little plan: I’m going to get an undergrad degree in engineering and study political science,” Powell explained while revealing that social studies is actually her favorite class. “And then I’m going to do engineering until I’m old enough to run for political office.”
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