Galena Park ISD holds second annual middle school STEM Challenge; Woodland Acres wins overall

Galena Park ISD held its second annual middle school STEM Challenge in 2025, bringing students from multiple campuses to compete in bridge building, Sphero coding, a teamwork "pressure cooker" event and a battle-bots finale.

James Fine, the event host, opened the program and outlined competition rules and safety requirements. He explained event timing and scoring and encouraged students during a program of on-stage instructions and timed rounds.

The bridge-building competition required teams to construct a freestanding bridge using only provided materials (20 pieces of balsa wood, five glue sticks, design paper, rulers and a hot glue gun) and meet dimensional limits: a roadway 12 to 15 inches long and 2.5 to 4.5 inches wide, a clear interior for a 1-by-2-inch tester block, and a substructure not exceeding 3 inches in depth and 10 inches in length. Judges measured each structure before testing; only judges were allowed to use the handheld timber cutter. Fine reminded teams that all team members had to wear protective goggles and that anyone using the hot glue gun must wear finger protectors.

In the coding event, teams had 30 minutes to program a Sphero Mini to run a course. Teams could run up to three trials; each trial was scored to a rubric, and the highest trial score counted. Students were not penalized for build or testing time while coding, but were not allowed to change code after the 30 minutes expired.

The pressure-cooker event gave teams 10 minutes to complete up to five tasks from a judge-supplied packet; each completed task earned one point. Teams selected a single spokesperson to tell the judge whether they would skip a task; skipped tasks scored zero unless completed later for half credit if time allowed.

The final event, battle bots, allowed teams 40 minutes to buy materials (each team received $25 to spend at an event supply table), build and test a Sphero-based bot that would protect its balloon while popping opponents' balloons. Only one driver per team was permitted in the arena during matches, and a team was eliminated if its balloon detached or popped. Judges enforced arena rules, and ties were broken by lowest-cost bot.

Throughout the day, event staff called time warnings, supervised safety and testing, and recorded results. Students' banter and brief stage remarks punctuated the competition; during an early segment a student responded to a joke with, "Because they make up everything," referring to atoms.

Organizers closed the program with an awards ceremony. Third place was announced as Team 3, the Tech Titans, representing Galena Park Middle School. Second place went to Team 5, the Walkie Talkies, from Willdanekers Middle School (announced with the student name Sofia Castro Casa). First place was awarded to Team 10 from Woodland Acres Middle School; the host named team members as Bill Nieskidd and Angel Quinta when recognizing the winners.

Event organizers and district staff thanked coaches and volunteers from each campus, and coaches from Cobb 6th Grade Campus, Cunningham Middle School, Lena Park Middle School, North Shore Middle School and Woodland Acres Middle School were invited to the stage to receive certificates of appreciation.

Organizers said they were "thoroughly impressed with the creativity and collaboration of all teams" and encouraged students to consider returning next year.