SSISD students continue racking up wins — robotics, FCCLA, TAFE, UIL art students see multiple successes

Some people might think that the school year slows down after students come back from spring break, but Sulphur Springs ISD’s students still have the pedal to the metal. From high tech to high art, they’re demonstrating their talents and bringing home trophies.

The trustees recognized several groups at their Tuesday, April 9 meeting, including SSMS robotics, Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA), Texas Association of Future Educators and UIL art. These students have been representing the district and their respective schools at competitions all over Texas.

Robotics

Sulphur Springs Middle School STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics)/robotics teacher Bryan Cole and some of his students attended Tuesday’s school board meeting. Trustees recognized the four teams that participated in the VEX IQ State Championship, held at Thomas Jefferson HS in North Dallas on March 23rd.

“Each team was required to build a robot to accomplish specific, ingame tasks with a random alliance partner,” Cole explained. “Each team also has to track their engineering design process using a notebook that gets judged by industry professionals and teachers at each competition. The judges are looking for how well each team was able to document their process of building, testing and revising their robots over the season. Team members are also interviewed by these judges, and asked questions that pertain to their knowledge and decision-making processes about the engineering of their robots, their code and their overall game strategies.”

VEX games require collaboration in the form of an alliance of two robots from randomly generated teams at that event. In skills, each team gets a chance to show their individual driving and coding skills without an alliance partner. Those scores are added together, and they can advance based on that skills performance.

All four teams earned a spot at the state competition. The SSMS Kash Bakers placed third in skills rankings during the Region 8 ESC Vex tournament in November 2023. The SSMS Outcasts and Tachyons teams won the Teamwork Championship at the Region 8 ESC tournament on February 21. The Tachyons also finished first in the skills competition at that tournament. The Sharks were the fourth team to move on to the VEX IQ state competition from their skills results at that same Region 8 tournament. They finished third in skills, which was enough to get them a late wild card invite.

At the state competition, three of the four teams had some tough luck with major robot malfunctions. The SSMS Kash Bakers ended up ranked 15th after the qualifying rounds, landing them in the finals as one of the top 20 teams. Along with their ally team, they earned the seventh highest score for the day.

Cole and his 12 robotics teams have attended six tournaments this year. The state-bound teams “worked hard and kept making tournaments by winning in-class competitions, then performing well at the tournaments proper,” Cole said.

The Circuit Breakers will compete at the Vex Robotics World Championship competition at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas April 28-30.

The three SSMS teams who participated at the state competition will be recognized at the May 13 school board meeting.

FCCLA/TAFE

Debbie Stribling, who serves as an advisor for both the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) and Texas Association of Future Educators (TAFE) organizations at Sulphur Springs High School, introduced some of her students who competed at recent FCCLA events. The SSHS FCCLA chapter has three other advisors in addition to Stribling — Christina Davis, Heather Herfel and Reginald Thomas.

On Friday, April 12, chapter members Jake Jumper, Gage Williams, Ian Westlund, Joely Wilson and ships among a variety of entities including but not limited to, schools, religious organizations, law enforcement agencies, child protective services, CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), children’s advocacy centers, prosecution agencies, medical professionals, mental health professionals, and other community- base non-profit organizations; and

“More than 65 confirmed victims of child abuse and neglect were reported in Hopkins County in FY 2023; and “Everyone in the community should become more aware of child abuse prevention and consider helping parents raise their children in safe, nurturing environments as well as, supporting local professionals dedicated to meeting the needs of child abuse victims; and “The County of Hopkins, Texas urges all citizens to work together to reduce child abuse and neglect and to significantly improve the response of when child abuse occurs in the months and year ahead; and “This effort will give abused and neglected children in our community and around the country, a chance for a safe and positive future.”

Lake Country CASA is located at 218 Connally Street in Sulphur Springs, and serves children in Franklin, Hopkins and Rains Counties. CASA volunteers are appointed by judges to guide one child or one set of siblings through the system to safe, permanent homes as quickly as possible. CASA volunteers research case records and speak to each person involved in a child’s life, including family members, teachers, doctors, lawyers, and social workers. They monitor the progress of the child and family throughout the case and advocate for the child’s current and future needs in court, in school, and in agency meetings. Their independent evaluations allow the court to make better informed decisions. Since CASA volunteers serve on one case at a time, they truly get to know the child and can give each case the sustained, personal attention it deserves.

NETCAC is located in Winnsboro and serves Camp, Delta, Franklin, Hopkins, Rains, Titus, Upshur and Wood Counties. NETCAC serves as the first stop for children victimized by sexual or severe physical abuse or who have witnessed a violent crime. CACs provide a safe, child-friendly environment where law enforcement, child protective services, prosecution, medical, and mental health professionals can share information and develop effective, coordinated strategies sensitive to the needs of each unique case and child.