by Crystal KobzaHOUSTON (KTRK) -- Two Katy schools are gearing up for a national competition. Students from Beckendorff Junior High and Seven Lakes High School are moving on after wins in Texas' Science Olympiad.
The students involved in the two teams couldn't be more proud to come home winners of this state competition. And it's pretty impressive to see just how creative and smart they are.
The junior high and high school students are coming straight off a big accomplishment. Just a few weeks ago, they competed against 29 other teams from around Texas at the state Science Olympiad in College Station.
"It feels like all of our hard work paid off," Beckendorff student Andy Liu said.
The teams from Beckendorff Junior High and Seven Lakes High School were two of four schools from Texas to win state.
Among one of the winning projects is a rocket launcher. Basically, the goal was to shoot the rocket as high as possible, and they accomplished that mission.
"It was exhilarating and it was really fun to launch, and to watch it at state and get first at state was really an accomplishment," Beckendorff student Tanmaya Shrivastava said.
Junior high students also showed off a catapult. They say they're judged on how far the projectile will fly. The catch is, they don't know what they'll be launching or how heavy it until the get to competition.
"You want the furthest distance, but you also want accuracy," Beckendorff student Jordan Rapp said.
Seven Lakes High School students also came home victorious, after placing with a robotic arm they call the Terminator.
"This is more of like what comes out of mathematics, geometry, you know all the really boring classes, that you have to take, is something like this, something amazing, and extremely fun to interact with," Seven Lakes student Guillermo Angeris said.
As for their team coaches, they say, these students have been working hard every day, fine tuning the details.
"We know the students feel they are accountable to one another and it's truly a team effort," Beckendorff teacher Scott Lightle said.
"I think its an honor to just be able to go, to be able to be selected out of all the teams at state," Seven Lakes teacher Sara Mullenax said.
And the national competition is being held in Orlando, Florida on May 18-19. The students say they're hoping to place first, but as long they place in the Top 10, they'll be happy.
Two other schools, including Riverwood Junior High School in Kingwood, will also be heading to the national championships.
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