Ball High School's robotics team is taking on the world

GALVESTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Galveston's Ball High School Robotics team isn't just good - they're the best.

The school competed in the 2021 VEX Robotics World Championship and finished with four of the top sixteen teams around the globe.

But the work is not easy. The students spend hours after school and on weekends building the the robots, practicing maneuvers, and competing on the local and state level. Team member Christian Leitzel said, "You really start from nothing. You start from just a couple pieces of metal and then you build a whole robot. It takes months and hours and hours of work. And to see it all pay off, with being able to drive, feels really nice."

Ball High School Robotics teacher Katherine Pickavance said, "I'm so proud of them. They're like a second family to me. We travel as a team and I see them every Saturday, every weekend. They're just extended family."