Crossroads middle and high school students continue to look forward to summer robotics camps and other computer science activities at Victoria University of Houston as a result of a $30,000 grant from the Alcoa Foundation.
This grant will fund camps and events such as an after-school robotics course for high school students, two summer camps for high school students, two summer camps for middle school students, and the annual UHV Math & Robotics Awareness Day . All events are open to students in Victoria and surrounding counties.
“The Alcoa Foundation is proud to continue to support the robotics program at the University of Houston-Victoria. We look forward to hearing about their experiences with this program and how it has prepared them to continue their higher education in the future and enter the labor market in the future. We are doing it,” said Rosa García Pinheiro, President of the Alcoa Foundation.
The Alcoa Foundation has supported UHV for over 30 years, and the Foundation’s generous support has enabled the university to advance the science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines and careers of Crossroads students.
For the 2022-2023 school year, UHV will host an after-school robotics course for high school students. Students on the course will use his VEX IQ robotics kit, suitable for all levels of programming experience, said his UHV Associate Professor of Computer Science, Director of the Computer Science Program, and co-host of Math & Robotics Awareness Day. Amjad Nusayr, who is a In this course, students will work on a project and showcase it on Awareness Day. The new kit also allows students to prepare for regional robotics competitions.
Summer includes High School Robotics Camp, High School Virtual Data Science Boot Camp, Middle School Robotics Camp, and Texas Women in Computing Camp for middle school students of all genders. The camp caters to students in Victoria and surrounding areas.
“UHV wants to contribute to the community and we are excited to see students from all over Victoria coming to UHV to learn about STEM disciplines and topics,” said Nusayr. “We thank the Alcoa Foundation for their continued support. Through this grant, students in our community will be able to learn more about what the future looks like in STEM.”
Each year, approximately 200 high school students from Victoria, Gonzales, DeWitt, Lavaca, Colorado, Wharton, Jackson, Calhoun, Goliad, Refugio, Aransas, Bee, Kearns, and Matagorda counties participate in Math and Robotics Awareness Day. Visit UHV. At the annual event, students meet and interact with members of his UHV math and science faculty, watch demonstrations, visit booths set up by various groups and companies, and learn about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. You will have the opportunity to participate in sessions focused on topics such as: High school students can also win prizes by participating in computer science and math tests.
The event is typically held in the spring and is one of the best days of the year on campus for Ricardo Teixeira, UHV Associate Professor of Mathematics and co-organizer of Math & Robotics Awareness Day. As a result of the Alcoa Foundation’s continued support, the camps and events reach thousands of students in the region, helping students learn about his STEM field and how math- and science-based work can benefit his career and his community. He said it helped him learn what works.
In addition to learning more about the STEM field, students attending the camp and Math & Robotics Awareness Day will learn what it’s like to be a UHV student and receive support from UHV faculty. Over the years, parents and former participants have kept in touch with Teixeira, sometimes asking for help with math problems and letters of recommendation.
“We have a great team here at UHV and receiving another grant from the Alcoa Foundation is confirmation that we are doing a great job here,” said Teixeira. We are passionate about what we do and love partnering with the community to help show students the full potential of STEM.”
For more information on degrees offered through the UHV College of Natural & Applied Science, please visit www.uhv.edu/natural-applied-science. Students and community members interested in visiting the UHV Robotics Lab can email Amjad Nusayr to schedule a tour. nusaira@uhv.edu.