The Cinco Ranch High School Robotics Team 624 CRyptonite was recognized at the June 17th KISD Board Meeting for another successful competition season as well as many other community service projects performed throughout the past year. Board members got a chance to see this year’s robot, THOR, which shoots Frisbee type discs into goals during competitions. Robotics Club President Bill Waters spoke about the impact robotics has on students by enhancing learning in the STEM fields with hands-on engineering activities. Students also learn about digital media and website design and have opportunities to give presentations and demonstrations in our community. Team 624 competes in FIRST For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), founded by Dean Kamen, in which over 2,500 high school teams compete in robotics competitions around the world. Students from Team 624 help promote STEM concepts in our community with various activities including a Science Day Camp held in the fall which is for 4th thru 7th grade students. Students learn various science and physics principles through experiments and demonstrations. The team has also hosted an FLL (FIRST Lego League) Tournament for the past two years that brings teams from across the Houston area in a competition with smaller robots using Lego Mind Storm for younger students. Robotics Booster Club member and team mentor, Mike Outlaw, spoke to the board about the team’s sustainability and ongoing support from many corporate sponsors in the greater Houston area. This past spring marked CRyptonite’s 13th year of robotics competition. Other teams in our district are Morton Ranch High School and Seven Lakes High School with Seven Lakes competing this year for the first time. Tompkins High School will be forming a new team in the fall. Team 624 will be competing in the Indiana Robotics Invitational Tournament in Indianapolis in mid-July then will travel to Austin in late July for the Texas Robot Roundup.