CES students headed to a different Long Beach for international competition
Special to Long Beach Breeze
Coast Episcopal School Robo-Raiders (l to r), Porter Bates, Hutson Lambert, Augustine Martinez and Isabella Wood, will be traveling with their parents and robotics coaches in May to a three-day international competition in Long Beach, California.
Four sixth graders from Coast Episcopal School (CES) are traveling from Long Beach, Mississippi, to Long Beach, California, to compete at the Western Edge FIRST Robotics Invitational, May 28-31. The students, competing as the CES Robo-Raiders, will join approximately ninety teams at this First® event featuring both First®Lego®League and First®League Tech Challenge teams from around the world.
The CES Robo-Raiders include Porter Bates, Hutson Lambert, Augustine Martinez and Isabella Wood, who are part of a CES after-school program that expands on the foundational robotics and coding instruction all CES students receive. The program provides a hands-on environment where students develop problem-solving skills through building, coding and collaborative design.
Teams participating in this international competition must present and defend their engineering design process to judges, clearly communicate their ideas and demonstrate how they tested, refined and improved their robot through trial and error. Students learn that failure is an important part of innovation—analyzing what went wrong, adapting their designs and trying again. By collaborating with and learning from teams with different approaches and perspectives, the Robo-Raiders will further develop critical skills such as problem-solving, teamwork, communication and resilience. These experiences help prepare them not only for future STEAM opportunities (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) but also for the challenges of real-world collaboration and leadership.
“This is an incredible honor and exciting opportunity for our students and Coast Episcopal School. Our Robo-Raiders will present their engineering design process, collaborate with other teams, and further develop critical skills in problem-solving, communication, and teamwork,” said robotics Coaches Tarah Herbert and Megan Martinex.
The Robo-Raiders first came together in the 2024-25 school year. Throughout their rookie year, the team improved their engineering and coding skills. Their hard work at the qualifying tournament last year resulted in them earning the Core Values Award, advancing them to the Mississippi State Championship.
At the state competition, they faced a significant challenge when one of their robot motors—after performing correctly during two practice matches—failed during their first official match. With only minutes before their next match, the team quickly disassembled their robot during the opening ceremony, replaced the motor and rebuilt the robot in time to compete. Their determination and teamwork allowed them to overcome the setback and continue competing.
The Robo-Raiders continued to build on that success in the current 2025-26 season. They won the Champion’s Award at their qualifying event, recognizing their performance across all areas of the competition. In preparation for the Mississippi State Championship, the team often spent extra time refining their robot game—sometimes even staying in from recess to design new attachments or improve mission code. At the state competition, they finished seventh overall and earned the third Place Robot Design Award.
Their coaches are enthusiastic about the opportunity the students will have at the Long Beach, California, competition.
“This experience will broaden their perspectives, strengthen their problem-solving skills, and further inspire their pursuit of future STEAM opportunities.”
