Patricia Cortez, a Texas history teacher at the School for the Talented and Gifted (TAG) in Pleasant Grove, established an all-girls robotics team after two third-grade students requested its creation. The initiative began when the students expressed that they felt intimidated on the school’s existing mixed-gender team, which had recently returned from the VEX World Championship with trophies.
Cortez initially declined the request due to her lack of engineering background and uncertainty about the outcome. "I have no engineering background," Cortez said. "I knew nothing about robotics. I love math, but not programming. I’m very competitive, so in my head I was thinking, if we do this on our own and lose, what happens then? So I told them no."
The students persisted, responding to her hesitation by saying, "if this is all about learning, then you can learn with us. Let’s do it together." This conversation led to the formation of the LadyBots. The program has since expanded to include LadyDronez, an all-girl aerial drone team, and Girls and Gears, a student-hosted workshop introducing younger girls to STEM activities.
Cortez, who has been with Dallas ISD for 13 years, noted that the team’s formation coincided with a district initiative to expand STEM offerings. She began researching the underrepresentation of women in STEM, specifically Latinas, and shared those statistics with her students. "When I shared those statistics with my girls, it really hit them," Cortez said. "It made them want to keep the Lady Bots going and bring more girls in."
The experience also influenced Cortez’s teaching approach. She admitted that robotics forced her to confront her perfectionism. "Robotics taught me to embrace failure," she said. "Once I learned that for myself, it was easier to tell my students, ‘It’s okay to get things wrong. In STEM, that is how you learn.’"
Cortez highlighted the growth of one student who initially froze during drone competitions. The student was moved to a skills division where no communication was required. Over time, she asked to join teamwork events, learned to advocate for herself, improved her math scores, and became team captain. The student is now enrolled in the School of Science and Engineering at Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Center and expressed a desire to become a pilot.
