Whiz kids from NYC school headed to prestigious robotics championship — after $6K NASA grant

A group of whiz kids from a small Manhattan public school will go head-to-head with hundreds of other students from around the world in a prestigious robotics championship this month — after they won a $6,000 grant from NASA.

The tech prodigies from West End Secondary School (WESS) on the Upper West Side will compete in the FIRST Robotics Championship in Houston, held on April 17 through April 20, even though they only formed their robotics team less than a year ago.

The team is headed to the finals after their disc-throwing robot was one of just five out of fifty-two designs selected to head to the finals at the recent New York City regionals.

“I’m a little nervous, but I’m mostly excited,” one of the team’s co-founders, Sonia Benowitz, 14, told The Post Wednesday.

The WESS crew — who will now compete against the most elite high schools globally that specialize in STEM, including Manhattan’s Stuyvesant High School — also edged out other newcomers in the regionals for the coveted Rookie All-Star award.

The award was a huge boost for the team, which was only started in September 2023 by Benowitz and fellow WESS 9th graders Talia Birnbaum, Alexander Cawdron and Annabelle Malschin.