I Have a Passion for Engineering. Now, So Do My Students.

Last month the Eagle Engineers robotics team from Carmen Middle School Northwest won the NASA TechRise Student Challenge! As the founding coach of the robotics team, I am so proud of them. And I know this is just the start of what they can achieve.

My own passion for STEM education began 23 years ago, in Mexico. As a young teacher in the city of Monterrey, I got involved with a government initiative to teach STEM in grade schools. I became fascinated by how teaching connects with the principles of science and engineering. I watched my students grow up to become engineers and technicians, working for major brands like Lego and Hershey.
Through my work with the Mexican government, I began collaborating with international science education programs as well as US agencies like NASA. I met my now-husband, a fellow STEM educator, and we started writing books and curricula together.

In 2019, my husband and I relocated to the US, eventually ending up in Milwaukee. While leading a STEM workshop for educators, I heard about a teaching opening at Carmen Middle Schools of Science and Technology. I knew it was an opportunity to teach at a school founded on the mission of equipping young people with science and technology skills. ​

“I want my students to share my passion for robotics.”

Since 2023, I’ve been teaching 8th-grade science at Carmen’s Northwest campus. Although I’m a trained engineer, I focus on making complex concepts easy for middle school students to understand. As a Latina woman scientist with engineering training, I hope that my own experience serves as an inspiration for what is possible.

In class, my students used electronic sensors to measure things in the environment like water, gas, and light. The students were fascinated by the sensors and wanted to know more. A group of them started talking about robotics, and I thought they’d enjoy participating in the FIRST robotics program. That’s how the Eagle Engineers robotics team was born.

Most of my 8th-grade students had no previous robotics experience. One student started out so insecure about science that he was struggling to even finish his assignments. Seeing that he loved drawing, I encouraged him to make science sketches in class and to start designing robots and practice fields for the Eagle Engineers. Now, he’s the first student at the door for weekly practices, and he speaks confidently to the judges at robotics competitions. He just needed someone to cheer him on, and now he’s not hiding anymore.

Once the Eagle Engineers began winning local robotics competitions, it was time to take it to another level. I knew about TechRise from my years working on NASA projects. It’s a big challenge: student teams submit a design for an experimental device to get sent into sub-orbit on a NASA flight. The winning teams get $1,500 and professional mentorship to build their prototype, which NASA then launches into space.
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My students were so excited to build a robot with real-world applications. They designed a high-altitude balloon with sensors to measure everything from CO2 levels to UV radiation. They created a digital prototype to submit to NASA. And on January 23rd, we all gathered around a computer to hear the news: they won! They’re one of 60 winning teams this year, and the only winning team from Wisconsin.
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The students are so excited, and they’ve already started building their prototype to send to NASA. Meanwhile, I’m looking ahead to the future. There are so many other student initiatives at NASA, and other chances for real-world engineering experience, that I want to bring to my students for years to come. I can’t wait to see where we go together next.

​Learn more about our Eagle Engineers and Ms. Mendiola from Spectrum News.