WACO, Texas — La Vega girls' basketball may not be the only State Title in ‘Pirate Land' this year.
For the first time in over 2 decades, La Vega is headed back to the Texas Science and Engineering Fair at Texas A&M. This is certainly worth celebrating, so KCEN decided to head to the campus for a visit to learn more.
"I actually really do enjoy the class," said student Raeleigh Stolle.
Enjoyment has led to success for all 11 students in Rachel Stolle's class who have qualified for the state science fair.
"As I joined the team back at La Vega, I was brought on to establish a fair," said Rachel Stolle. "My goal this year was to get every kid to State, and that's exactly what happened, so we not only met our goal this year, and although I would love to see them have success at State this year, but at the same time we are celebrating the fact that we're going to get to go for the first time in, as I said, over 20 years."
Since it has been over 2 decades since the Pirates made a State appearance, the kids understand that they have accomplished something special, and for many, seeing Texas A&M University and staying in a hotel in late March will be a dream come true!
"It's definitely an exciting experience," said student Daniel Puente. "I haven't been to Texas A&M before and the fact that it's a State competition, that's what gets me excited."
"I’ve never been to A&M so I’m excited to go see the campus and experience everything, the hotel especially you know because I don't go out a lot," agreed Carlos Orellana.
A good showing at State would advance to ISF, better known as the International Science Fair, and when you consider that 22,000 Texas students participate in the science fair and only 1,000 make it to State, advancing would be a major accomplishment.
"So it's the International Science Fair, and you can get a whole lot of prizes and scholarships and stuff from winning that or even just going," Raeleigh Stolle told 6 News.
"I hope to grow scholars," added Rachel Stolle. "Children who understand the scientific method and inquiry, who know how to look at a problem and then design a way to investigate that problem in order to find real-world solutions to help improve their school, their community and their world."
Raeleigh Stolle is Rachel Stolle’s daughter and she is part of the high expectations that were set for these students at La Vega when Rachel came back this year for her second stint in the district.
"Everything that I allow my students to do has to be authentically theirs," said Rachel Stolle. "I do not allow my students to go search a project up on the internet. They start with a bubble map in the summer, in their summer bridge, basically figuring out 'What do I already know? What am I interested in?' And then I take them through the journey of figuring out 'Ok, how do we turn that into a project?'"
"It's just a lot of fun and it's something that I’ve always been interested in and it's also just so much easier with how my mom is our sponsor," said Raeleigh Stolle. "That's actually one of the reasons why I started science fair, because she introduced it to me."
All of these kids have been introduced to the joy of science and making a difference, like the three-man team called "Buckets" which is recycling trash and has already been recognized by the City.
"We have found the experience pretty great so far," said Tony Sanchez, who works on the project. "You know, as my colleague stated before, we all knew each other, we all are friends. Yeah, it's been a good experience so far."
Carlos Orellana's digital app is bringing more books to a stressed socio-economic area.
"I'm not nervous, I’m actually pretty excited," said Orellana. "And I actually like explaining the project even though it takes a long time."
"You know there's 22 categories at the Regional and State level, and within those categories the breadth of projects that you can encounter is great," said Rachel Stolle.
The La Vega team has a really good chance in the Fair. Two of the teams placed first at the Central Texas Science and Engineering Fair and three others finished second.
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