SAN ANTONIO — Problem solving is what Haddon Mollenkopf loves about robotics. Competing with his team, The Microchips & Queso, makes the pastime even better.
"I love the stem aspect," Mollenkopf said. "I enjoy the struggle of competing, the challenge of pitting yourself and your team against other people, and the adrenaline that comes with that."
Joining the team as a freshman, he didn't always know where to focus his math and science skills.
"My whole life, me and my family felt like I was relatively good at math and science, but I never really enjoyed math and science by themselves," Mollenkopf said. "But coming into robotics made me see that there are fun applications of these subjects, so I intend to go into engineering. Specifically, robotics."
As a senior now, he stepped in as team captain, to help guide his teammates during their first year of competition.
"Haddon brings a lot of positivity to our team, and he is able to learn and also teach at the same time," robotics coach Daniel Espinoza said.
The team made up of 7th graders to high school aged making it all the way to the worlds competition, where they competed against all 50 states and 40 different countries.
"You have to be unified, all approaching the same goal. Sometimes from different angles but even then, you are still unified you're all approaching that same point to try and get there as fast as possible," Mollenkopf said.
"Him being team captain and representing us at the area and state and world levels was cool to see," Espinoza said.
The Microchips & Queso ranking 11th out of 40 teams in their division.
"It's awesome. We're hoping we can go again next year," Mollenkopf said.
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