SOUTH LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Forget the Dodgers. The team you should be watching is the Foshay Learning Center Wolverines.

Each year, FIRST robotics teams across the country are given a box of parts and six weeks to build a bot that can complete a challenge. This year’s game – called Destination Deep Space – was a doozy.

Senior Christopher Juarez says, “At first I was like, 'How are we going to be able to do this?'” But they did do it and did it well enough to win the Orange County Regional Competition last month.

Juarez has been involved in the robotics competition since sixth grade.

“FIRST is very important to me," he says. "I actually get to express myself here. Like most people have like art club or theater. This is the theater for me.” 

This week, the team is heading to Houston, their 14th time competing in the National Championship.  

The powerhouse team is mentored by Darryl Newhouse who’s been coaching Team 597 since 2001.  Newhouse says FIRST can be a life-changing experience for students, who develop confidence and a list of life skills.

“Problem solving skills, critical thinking skills, trouble shooting," he explains. "All the things like a scientist or an engineer would use to solve problems, they are getting it now at an early age.”

Over the past six years, Newhouse has watched Juarez and his peers grow from shy sixth graders to college bound seniors. Juarez plans to go to UC Davis to study electrical engineering. But even as they graduate out of his shop, Mr. Newhouse is certain this isn’t the last he’ll see of them.

“I know one of these kids is going to do something wonderful," he said. "One is going to win a Nobel Prize. One of them is going to cure a disease. You know, they’re going to find a better car that doesn’t pollute.”

This competition is just one of the gears that’s setting them in motion.