Mason Middle School seventh grader Nikil Prabhakar and eighth graders Veena Ganti, Sai Kundety, Sathya Pancu, and Sanjay Swamy formed first-year robotics team Tech Titans and qualified for the Ohio State Championship on February 17, at iSPACE Scarlet Oaks campus in Sharonville.

The Tech Titans placed first at the January 19-20 state qualifying tournament at Van Wert High School, and finished seventeenth at State.

“This was a huge achievement since we are a rookie team, and most experienced teams don’t even come in the top five!” shared Kundety. “We were able to defeat teams who have been involved for years, which shows that we put the right amount of work and effort into this project to be rewarded.”

The Tech Titans meet three to five days a week, and always have some sort of responsibility the other days to finish or fix programming.

“The goal is for everyone to do something, or else it is not teamwork. We want it done well to have the best chances of winning at states,” added Kundety. “Thanks to our wonderful mentors, we learned what a basic program looks like and how to build it.”

Guided by adult coaches and ​mentors, students develop STEM skills and practice engineering principles (like keeping an engineering notebook), while realizing the value of hard work, innovation, and sharing ideas.