THE CRUX OF IT: Success in the face of ignorance.
As reported b
The Panther Bots is a team comprised of Latino and Black fourth graders from Indianapolis’ Pleasant Run Elementary School. The students were competing in a robotics competition when their competitors saw them in the parking lot and yelled to them, “Go back to Mexico”.
“They were pointing at us and saying, ‘Oh my God, they are champions of the city all because they are Mexican. They are Mexican and they are ruining our country,’” Diocelina Herrera, mother of one of the Panther Bot students relayed.
Lisa Hopper, coach of the Pleasant Run Elementary School’s Panther Bots team felt that the team was targeted because they weren’t a white team.
“For the most part, the robotics world is kind of a white world,” Hopper told the Star. “They’re just not used to seeing a team like our kids. And they see us and they think we’re not going to be competition. Then we’re in first place the whole day and they can’t take it.”
After winning several awards during robotics challenges at the Indiana State Championships, the Panther Bots earned a ticket to the Vex IQ Robotics World Championship in Louisville, Kentucky.
The Panther Bots have won six awards for their robotic creations. During the Indiana State Championships, they ranked fourth in the state for teamwork, 11th in the state for skills and programming and won the Create Award for best robot design, which earned them a ticket to the World Championships.
Self definition can lead to self actualization.
Let them underestimate you but never let ’em deter you!