AT&T Engineer Helps Students Find Solutions To World Crisis

PLANT CITY, FL -- What if you were living in a third-world country and had no access to clean water?

That's a challenge AT&T engineer Howard Petree and the middle school robotics team he coaches undertook as part of the 2017-18 First Lego League Challenge.

The league challenged robotics teams to create a solution for a human water cycle problem. Teams were required to research a problem, then develop a solution.

Petree, who volunteers to lead the robotics team at his daughter's school, Cambridge Christian in Tampa, and his team of middle school students began their challenge in September. They attended workshops and researched ideas before developing a prototype. Recently, the team won a first-place award in robot design in a First Lego League competition.

Petree and his team are heading to the First Lego League Championship Tournament in Plant City on Saturday, Feb. 17 to compete against other Florida robotics teams. The winning teams will move on to the state championship in Jacksonville.

Petree devotes four to five hours a week with the students, guiding them in their research and design work as part of the AT&T mentor program.

In 2016, AT&T employees and retirees contributed more than 5.4 million volunteer hours around the world.

Riverview resident and founder of Tech Playzone, Desh Bagley, is organizing the tournament that will take place from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Hillsborough Community College, 1206 N. Park Road, Plant City.

Images via AT&T

AT&T engineer Howard Petree works with his daughter, Jasmine, during a meeting of her school's robotics club.

Howard Petree offers advice to student Corey Griffore.

Student Corey Griffore works on the team's robot.