All-girl robotics team in Johnston County advances to FIRST Robotics World Championship

JOHNSTON COUNTY, N.C. (WTVD) -- An all-girl robotics team from Johnston County is advancing to the FIRST Robotics World Championship.

The G-Force robotics team based in Clayton was formed in the summer of 2022 with 11 high school girls representing public, charter and home school communities.

"It's something that we were kind of worried about when we started this team was finding members and girls that would be actually interested in this," said 9th Grader Sloan Mann from Clayton High School.

The team's lead coach Shannon Mann said the championship is an opportunity for the young team to go to Houston and compete on a global scale.

"We call it WASP which stands for the 'Women Air Force Service Pilots' that served in World War Two. It's just as a way to honor them. And yes, it's a Robot," she said.

"It's been a really cool experience to learn Java and be able to learn it with other kids my age and be able to be mentored by professionals," 10th Grader Kaitlyn Nolte said.

Mann said, in just a few short months, the girls have been able to advance their skills to an incredible level. They will be competing against 600 teams from 26 different countries.

"I like we're really breaking the mold and proving that anybody can be good at STEM," said Nolte.

The team will be competing in Houston, Texas April 19-22.