Courtesy of Ms. Atalia Palma

Coming together for a photo, sophomores Arhaan Jafri, Ali Aslam, Yonnie Yang, and Rupal Jain celebrate the conclusion of the volunteering event. After weeks of planning, Team Slingshot members were relieved that their plans had gone smoothly.

Excited chatter echoed through the halls of Travis Heights, JJ Pickle, All Saints, and J. Houston Elementary School as curious kids waited excitedly for Catalyst, a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Hybrid Event, to begin. Hosted on Friday, Feb. 7, Catalyst was student-led by members of Robotics’ Team Slingshot, and aimed to enhance STEM learning and creativity in underprivileged areas across Texas. 

Team Slingshot worked in collaboration with Side by Side Kids, an afterschool program that provides enrichment and academic assistance for disadvantaged elementary school students. After weeks searching for niche community outreach, members of Slingshot were overjoyed to see their efforts come to fruition. 

“It was a great experience,” Jihoon Im ‘26 said. “Being able to see so many of [the students] excited about something, and helping them through it, was awesome. I was very impressed with the structures they made in our activities, and it was a lot of fun.” 

With the initial goal of making the event fully online, team members were faced with a challenge. After communication with the Side by Side Kids staff, they discovered that there wasn’t sufficient technology or space to host the event virtually. With only two weeks to conclude planning and time ticking against them, team members quickly searched for a solution.

“This entire planning process was just one obstacle after another,” Aubrey Tipps ‘26 said. “Working with schools with such limited resources made it really hard, but, you know, that’s also why we were doing this event in the first place. We want to work past those limitations and give these kids a great experience, especially because they don’t get to be in events like this so often.” 

Swiftly switching plans, Team Slingshot decided to turn the webinar into a hybrid event. Locations with access to projectors or computers would join a meeting similar to a normal webinar. However, volunteers would personally go to all locations to include schools who were not able to attend remotely. 

“I was really impressed by these students’ abilities to organize the event even with the short turnaround time,” Side by Side Kids Volunteer Specialist Ms. Atalia Palma said. “Their efficiency, dedication, and constant communication made all the difference, and we’d love to have them back again.” 

After finalizing plans and sending out STEM kits with supplies for all the planned activities, Team Slingshot split their fourteen members into groups for each location. Smaller groups took locations working with around 20-30 kids, while the largest groups were sent to locations with 51 kids. 

“Seeing all the kids was the most memorable part of the experience,” Rupal Jain ‘27 said. “Seeing so many of them laughing and having fun made everything worth it.” 

After leading the kids through STEM-inspired activities such as Marshmallow Towers, Snap Circuit Kits, and Strawberry DNA, the event came to a close as Team Slingshot members said their goodbyes to the elementary schoolers. Through Catalyst, the team was able to teach and engage over 160 kids. 

“A lot of the time, people think robotics is just our personal skills,” Tipps said. “But it’s just as important to us to help others experience and enjoy engineering just as much as we do. And that opportunity should be given to everyone. I’m glad we were able to contribute to that.”