The Robocats and RoboGirls, White Hill's new robotics teams, won big this past weekend at the Northern California First Lego League qualifying tournament in Vacaville.

The school sent three teams to the robotics competition - the RoboGirls, Robocats 3392, and Robocats 12858. All three teams were among the top six that advance to the championship tournament in Sacramento in February.

“I think our team was successful because we worked together well and mostly stayed on task. If things went wrong we tried to figure out a solution instead of abandoning our first idea," said Amelia Schopp of the RoboGirls.

In addition, the RoboGirls won the Champion's award, while the Robocats 3392 won the Project Presentation award.

About 30 kids have been meeting with teacher Nate MacDonald during lunch, on Saturdays, and sometimes after school to prepare for the competition (and build robots!), which is focused on getting kids to enjoy science, learning, and problem-solving.

“I have learned that this program has been waking up our minds, and they want us to learn real problems that we might be able to solve," said Oona Kummert, 7th grade.