Ravenettes All-Girls Robotics Team kicks off season

Canyon Crest Academy’s all-girls Ravenettes robotics team has started a strong fifth season participating in the FIRST Tech Challenge robotics competition. The Ravenettes were founded in 2015 to provide girls with opportunities to explore different aspects of engineering and computer science. As the first and only all-girls robotics team in the San Dieguito Union High School District, the Ravenettes team has expanded its outreach effort and opened its events to all students in the district this year. The current team is comprised of 15 students from four schools in the district, including Canyon Crest Academy, Torrey Pines High School, Pacific Trails Middle School, and Earl Warren Middle School.

In November, the Ravenettes and the affiliated CCA Girls Who Code club were invited to present in the 2nd annual Solana Beach School District STREAM Fest held at Solana Pacific Elementary School. The district-wide STREAM Fest celebrates local San Diego programs and provides hands-on experiences for kids and families in science, technology, research, engineering, arts and math through interactive stations and activities. At their station, the Ravenettes gave a demonstration of their robot and provided hands-on embedded systems projects where attendees built LED circuits using the Arduino microcontroller.

In the past weekend, the Ravenettes were invited to join over 25 robotics teams in San Diego County at a scrimmage held at the Del Mar Fairgrounds during the STEAM Maker Festival. Teams were able to participate in competition-style matches, practice on a full field, and meet other teams in preparation for the FIRST league competition next weekend.

For those who would like to join Ravenettes or attend the outreach events, contact Samantha Prestrelski (president) or Alexis Wu (vice president) at ccagirlswhocode@gmail.com for any questions. For more information, check the CCA Girls Who Code website atwww.ccagirlswhocode.weebly.com.