NAMPA, Idaho — At East Valley Middle School, robotics is a growing sport with a long list of hardware to prove it.
This weekend, the students are showing their work on the global stage at the VEX World Championship in St. Louis. The Nampa School District has 22 middle school teams, and this is East Valley's sixth consecutive time going to the world championship.
Eighth grader Archer Harris, who serves as both a driver and a team leader, said the team is still trying to improve before the competition begins.
WATCH: East Valley students are taking their robotics skills to the world stage
"We qualified from being skills champion and having a design award, which is very impressive," Harris said. "So it's kind of fun to push everyone around and tell them what to do and get stuff done."
For some students, the work is already shaping what they want to do well after middle school. Seventh grader Nevaeh Marano said the bigger goal is already taking shape.
"I'd probably wanna do it in college, mainly something around building for the military, because I want [to build] airplanes or ships or anything like that," Marano said.
Teacher Jesus Gomez says hands-on programs like this help build Idaho’s future engineering workforce.
"I have students that have gone on to be engineers, both aerospace engineers, electrical engineers, and mechanical engineers," Gomez said.
Even with the World Championship ahead, the work inside the classroom is still not done.
8th grader Archer Harris says the team is still trying to improve before competition begins.
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