The young women at Loretto Academy continue to excel in a male-dominated field: robotics.

The all-girl team at Loretto Academy kicked off their 2020 season with a challenge on January 4.

The team consists of ten students, including co-presidents Samantha Perez and Anaissa Rodriguez.

Perez said, “This year [the theme] is Infinite Recharge, which is focused on renewable energy and is in partnership with Star Wars.”

The objective is to bring power to an entire city with science that’s almost cooler than a Jedi’s lightsaber.

During the kickoff, the AngelBots at Loretto Academy went to the University of Texas at El Paso to assemble their robot and watch the other teams.

Perez said, “On January 4, we went to UTEP to watch the kickoff and there were a bunch of other teams there, and we got the pieces to build our robot.

“The team has had meetings to discuss strategies and our design for our robot and to start building the base.”

Ever since Perez was in fourth grade, she has had a passion for robotics and engineering. 

Perez said, “I first started robotics in fourth grade; I was actually part of the first robotics team of Loretto.

“And ever since then I have fallen in love with robotics because it was through robotics that I realized my love for engineering.”

Perez’s intelligence and helping hand has helped lead the robotics team to many victories.

Perez said, “I feel confident about winning because we’ve learned so much from previous years like teamwork and problem-solving under pressure when you have only two minutes to fix the robot.

“Duct tape is a girl’s best friend.”

The robotics team is incredibly proud of their hard work and is more than prepared for their competitions.

The team will have their first competition of the season on March 12-14 in Amarillo.

Their second competition will be in El Paso on March 27-29.

As the girls from Loretto continue their hard work, they continue to defy stereotypes in a field lacking female representation.