IRVINE, Calif. --  Using nuts and bolts and tools and machinery – this is how Olivia Ramirez typically spends her afternoons. 

“We’re trying to perfect different pieces of a robot, so were prepared to go to Worlds,” she said.

These girls are all part of the Robotics Team at Orchard Hills School in Irvine. It’s broken down into sub groups -- some are all boys , some co-ed -- but this is the only all-girls team. As Olivia just said, they’ve made it to a huge national competition.                     

“Ever since I was little, I wanted to be under the category of STEAM,” she said. 

And boy is she going ahead full steam!

“We're really proud of how far we’ve come and the work we’ve done,” she said. 

This year’s all-girl team has dominated the competition, winning 10 awards this season, including the prestigious Excellence Award for overall performance at the California State Championship. Now they’re at the VEX Worlds Championship, a five-day tournament in Louisville, Kentucky.

The girls will even go to a special girl-power event there in honor of their rare all-girls team. 

“Four years ago I started coaching and we had two girls in our entire program, and it’s now expanded to 50 percent of our program,” robotics class teacher Megan Lund said. 

“Even since a long time ago, people assume men were better at everything, but we know that’s not true. Women and men are equal,” Olivia said. 

These girls have the trophies to prove it.

UPDATE:

The girls went on to win the Overall Design Award for Middle School at the 2019 VEX Worlds Robotics Tournament!

Here they are at the tournament:

And being recognized at a Tustin Unified School District board meeting:

Congratulations girls!