BRYAN, Texas — Students from Bryan ISD and Galveston ISD left the four walls of the classroom at their schools and gathered with the professionals at TEEX to get real-world experience in Disaster City.
Friday's adventure was more than a field trip for these Bryan ISD students. It was a chance to start their future careers in robotics and artificial intelligence.
"TEEX is about developing people, developing public safety," Jason Moats said. Moats is the director of the TEEX Testing and Innovation Center. Working with the high schoolers and even middle schoolers and working to build their vocations, it can't start early enough."
The students learned about disaster robotics, mitigation and artificial intelligence and machine learning. The students were getting their first experience with robotics. It's something Bryan Collegiate AP Physics and Robotics teacher Brad Berger said his class is lucky to experience.
"This is definitely the type of program that I wish I had when I was in school. I didn't really have a robotics program when I was in high school," Berger said. "I got to be a computer science major originally, and my first chance of being able to see a type of real robotics in person was in my third year of college."
Last year TEEX trained more than 138,000 people, from all 50 states, seven territories, and 113 countries.
By the time these students finish the program, they will have professional certifications that they can take directly to the workplace, without going to college.
"There is really no replacement for hands-on learning," Berger said. "We could talk about theory and do calculations in the classroom all day, but it's a hands-on experience that will really cement and really teach the kids what this is all about."
The most important thing from today's training though was that kids can have fun and make a real impact with robotics, according to Rudder High School student, Naomi Pittman.
"It's been really fun, and I think the best part for me was seeing the boat fly by and also talking about drones," Pittman said.