Shiprock High School's robotics team, TONKIS, consisting mainly of freshmen, has emerged as champions in their first-ever robotics tournament held at Diné College in Tsaile, Arizona.

The team's lead coach, Ms. Vernetta Begay, established the team after learning from a Flagstaff robotics team during a professional development trip. With support from the district and a grant from Navajo Transitional Energy Co., the team attended their competition, hosted in Flagstaff by the CocoNuts team from Coconino High School.

The team's resilience and teamwork paid off as they won the finals and returned home with two trophies: the Winning Alliance trophy and the Think Award trophy. The Think Award trophy is awarded to teams that demonstrate strong engineering documentation, excellent communication skills, and an innovative approach to problem-solving.

By winning the tournament, the TONKIS team is set to compete in the National Robotic Tournament, which will be held in Phoenix, AZ, on February 16 & 17, 2024. There will be three teams from the National Robotics Tournament who could qualify for the World Tournament held in Houston, Texas.

The SHS Robotics team has inspired more students to join robotics, fulfilling their mission of inspiring others to pursue their passion for robotics. The Robotics tournaments allow students to build valuable technical abilities, problem-solving skills, and teamwork experience that will benefit them academically and professionally.

Please join us in congratulating the Shiprock High School Robotics team for their outstanding performance and wishing them success in Phoneix at the National Robotic Tournament.