Garrison, Tolleson, Reveles, Hammond, Rose, Hasbany, Kavas, Lloyd, Avila and Carver.
While athletic college signing generates much fanfare, most of those who sign will not become professional athletes. But at Woodrow Wilson High School, a different kind of signing day could see high school seniors go pro.
Woodrow’s state champion and ever growing robotics program, known as the Robocats (who we featured in March), hosted their own signing day Monday morning. These gifted students dedicated time, energy and know-how to represent their school in international competitions, winning state championships and accolades along the way.
The team, led by Woodrow teachers Brandon Carver, Daniel Garrison and Terry Tolleson, decided to start a new tradition with a signing day of their own. They are joining robotics teams all over the country with similar events. The senior robotics students were joined by friends, family and teammates to sign for their college. They also received a cord to wear at graduation to represent robotics.
Henry Lloyd, the only senior to be a part of the robotics team all four years, noted how important his participation in robotics was to colleges. He also said that being a part of the team, making a business plan for the robot and presenting the information in a professional setting prepared the robotics students well for a future in any profession. “It shows the wider influence that involvement in robotics has,” he said.
The University of Texas at Austin was the most common choice, though students were signing to schools as disparate as the University of Calgary and the Rochester Institute of Technology, where Shakira Avila will be attending the National Technical Institute for the Deaf.
“Every single one of these humans are going to do huge things,” Garrison said. “This is not about building robots. This is about building leaders.”
Here are where the students signed, along with their intended majors:
Shakira Avila, Rochester Institute of Technology, computer assisted design
Will Hammond, University of Calgary, civil engineering or architecture
Archer Hasbany, University of Texas at Austin, computer science
Sherrina Hoffnagle, gap year
Michael Kavas, University of Texas at Austin, computer science
Ethan Rose, University of Texas at Austin, biomedical engineering
Josh Reveles, Texas Tech University, computer engineering
