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A robotics team made up of students from HISD’s only all-boys and all-girls schools will be heading to Louisville, Ky., later this month to compete in the 2016 VEX Worlds Robotics championship.

The team is made up of five students from the Young Women’s College Preparatory Academy and four students from the Mickey Leland College Preparatory Academy for Young Men.

Competing under the name of “Roses and Knights,” the team qualified for the Louisville event after winning the National Society of Black Engineers’ VEX Competition in Boston in March.

The team beat out 21 high school VEX Robotics teams from across the nation, participating in seven rounds of qualifying matches before facing off in final matches to determine the tournament’s winner.

The victory marked the second year in a row for the team, which was coached by Vince Hamilton at Mickey Leland and Astra Zeno at Young Women’s College Prep. The students are Jarmel Brown, Evert Guzman, Marcellus Jordan, Luis Torres, Courtney Dubuclet, Diana Hernandez, Starr Morris, Guadalupe Ramirez and Janet Santacruz.

Also finishing with an award was the middle school team from Young Women’s College Preparatory Academy (Chelsea Flores, Zoe Gilmore, Sydnie Harris, and Hilary Rogers), which came home with the Core Values award in its first-ever First Lego League competition. Their team is coached by YWCPA teacher Phyllicia Moore.

The YWCPA Ten80 STEM Racing team has also advanced to the national competition in Miami in May.