Chaparral Middle School students start school year with a national robotics competition title

CHAPARRAL, New Mexico -- While Gadsden ISD is focusing on making sure the new school year is running smooth, the district is also celebrating its students.

This year several Chaparral Middle School MESA students are starting the school year as champions after winning the BEST Robotics National Championship.

the goal was to help solve some sort of inequity in their community.. with many mobile homes in the area, some of which have had fire damage.. the students created a fire alarm. It's a "smart" fire alarm which sends a notification straight to both the homeowner and the fire department if there was a gas or fire threat. 

The team also had a marketing pitch, technical interview, and academic poster which they also placed first in.

Another group of students from Chaparral Middle also competed and placed second.

Their teacher Rina Viramontes says she's extremely proud. This is the tenth year her students have competed to represent the state of New Mexico.