Presenting…The LightSaders

We are team #12928, The LightSaders. Our team consists of mixed grade students from St. Michael’s Catholic Academy in Austin, Texas. We are a team who has seen many places and achieved many things. We’ve travelled to competitions all around Texas; most notably to the World’s stage in Houston, where we placed 2nd in the world. We’ve even traveled to Baltimore for the prestigious Maryland Technical Invitational, taking home first place with our winning alliance partners. This year is our 7th year as a team, and we’re aiming higher than ever before with 1st place at this year’s World’s and well-deserved awards along the way.

2023-2024 Team Members

Will

– Hardware Senior

-7 years of FIRST experience

-Rock band, swim

Davin

– Software Senior

-5 years of FIRST experience

-Rock band, tech crew

Cyrus

– Marketing Senior

-4 years of FIRST experience

-Rock band, drumline, theater

William

– Software Sophomore

-4 years of FIRST experience

-Rock band, drumline, theater

Alejandro

– Hardware Junior

-3 years of FIRST experience

-Rock band, theater

Nash

– Marketing Junior

-2 years of FIRST experience

-Rock band, drumline, theater

Maya

– Software Freshman

-1 year of FIRST experience

-Rock band, drumline

Drew

– Software Senior

– 0 years of FIRST experience

-Rock band, drumline, tech crew

Elijah

– Hardware Sophomore

-0 years of FIRST experience

-Film, soccer

Meet Our Mentors

Head Coach- Mr. Mike

-Has coached for FIRST since 2004

-Coached FLL teams for 13 years before starting our team

-Provides a great model of a leader

Lead Hardware Mentor- Mr. David

-Earned a Masters in Mechanical Engineering from UT and Stanford

-Keeps us rational when making build decisions

Lead Software Mentor- Mr. Leroy

-Fluent in 6 programming languages

-Has a pilot’s license

-Helps with problem solving and brainstorming within code

Lead Marketing Mentor- Ms. Staci

-Owns her own marketing business

-Has Computer Science Degree

-Helps teach website and marketing strategies