ROBERT PIERCE

   • Leader & Times

After finishing as the overall winners at the Southwest Kansas Regional First LEGO League Robotics Competition in March in Liberal, a group of students from Hugoton Middle School is now headed to Houston for the 2026 FIRST Championship.

The championship will take place April 29 through May 2, and team member Kyson Morelos said he and his teammates have put in the work to help them get there.

“We have practices every Tuesday and Thursday from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.,” he said. “We started in August. We’ve got 12 team members.”

Teammate Aiden McDaniels said this year’s performance is consistent with Hugoton’s recent past in robotics.

“They’ve done pretty well,” he said. “Last year, they went to Florida getting second. They also went to Boston the year before. The projects have been successful.”

HMS student Gretta Tower said under the guidance of Coach Mariette Gerber, robotics is becoming a popular activity in USD 210 schools.

“Our team has increased over the years in numbers, and the popularity has grown through every fundraiser we do,” Tower said. “We try to get out to the community and make robotics more known.”

That growth, Tower said, has taken HMS robotics from a team of three to a team of 24 in just three years.

Despite having competed at the Liberal competition in the past, team member Tucker Craig said there were still a bit of nerves in place as the time came for the local event.

“When we went to Liberal, we were a little nervous about competition, but we got over it, and we were excited afterwards,” he said.

HMS student Bella Newman said she enjoyed her experience at the Seward County Activity Center in March.

“The Liberal competition was really fun to go to,” she said. “It was very well organized. The Hays competition was also really fun to go to. It was just a little more crowded.”

HMS student Micah Johnson is confident as the team prepares to make its way to Houston.

“I personally feel if we keep working hard and keep going toward our goal of 400 points on one run, we do have a good chance at worlds,” he said.

Hugoton robotics has had to do some fundraising to help make the trip to South Texas possible, and team member Sophia Araiza said that part of the process has gone quite successfully.

“We’ve raised a lot of money,” she said. “We had a tamale fundraiser at the beginning of the school year, and recently, we’ve done a lot more fundraising. At an auction, we had concessions. We had a car wash, and I’m pretty sure we raised $1,000 off the car wash alone. We also had a presentation in the cafeteria. We also do sports concessions. We did a wrestling one, and I think we’re pretty close to our goal. I’m really confident we’re going to reach it.”

Coach Gerber and team member Tucker Craig both set community support has been great for the team’s venture to Houston.

“We have had multiple businesses buy memberships from $100 up to $1,000 to support us,” Gerber said.

“The community has been really nice to us about what we’ve been doing this year,” Craig said. “My dad went to the car wash. He’s raising more money, and he’s doing details interior and exterior for different vehicles. It’s a 50/50 thing, but he’ll give us a lot of money for our field trip to Houston.”

Like the rest of the team, HMS student Rykker Rindels is confident about the chances for Hugoton robotics in Houston.

“I’m very excited, and I think we can do very good if we work hard and work as a team,” she said.

This is Gerber’s ninth year of coaching robotics in Hugoton, and she said each year comes with its own challenges due to working with students with individual personalities.

“Many times, the students have not done robotics at all, so you have to start them from scratch, but these kids have shown so much potential this year,” she said.

With this year’s team, Gerber said she sees students who are willing to put in extra practice, even going so far as practicing on Saturdays.

“I had to give up my Saturday mornings to let them come practice,” she said. “They’re very dedicated. They look they could be a great bunch of friends out of school anyway. They get along for the most part. They don’t always get along when they differ on opinions, but they do work well together. I really enjoyed doing this season with them.”