On a chilly Saturday morning in Erie, Pennsylvania, a small group of students gather inside the halls of Collegiate Academy.
     But it's not to study for an exam or sit through class lessons.

     "We're building robots, and we're having a lot of fun," said Julia Cecchetti a junior at Iroquois High School, a self proclaimed "nerd," and to her friends, a "robot ninja."

     "Robots are my absolute favorite thing. That's what I love to do. I could just do it all day," Cecchetti adds.

     Julia is just one member of a synchronized team of fellow "robot ninjas" from area schools preparing for an upcoming robotics competition.

     "So this entire program is designed around building robots, and then they compete against each other in the competitions all over the United States and all over the world," said James Flemming, a mentor to the robotics team at Collegiate, which will be heading to the California University of Pennsylvania to compete with their robot, named Delta.

     The team, CIA 291, has been meeting every Saturday to build Delta from scratch.
     In fact, we've paid a few visits to catch up with the progress and have watched Delta transform from some scraps of metal, to a full fledged working robot.

     "I am so impressed with these kids, they do it all. they design, they build and they run it, and they should be so incredibly proud of this," Flemming adds.
     So we asked the kids how they're feeling with just a few weeks left until the competition.
     "We're all really happy with our progress, like we really think we can win this time," said Emma Britton.
     "We're hopefully going to win this year because we've been working really hard on our robot and our robot is like working really really amazing and we're really surprised with our robots presentation," added Saina Haddei, a senior at East High School.

     Win or lose, the team agrees, the lessons they've learned will last a lifetime.
     "These are the kids that are going to go out and change the world. That's what this is, it's helping these kids understand their potential and recognizing you're the future, you're going to do great things," Flemming finishes.
     And if doing great things makes you a nerd, Julia says, that's fine by her.

     "I'm proud to be a nerd if that's the case, if that's what being a nerd means, I want to be a nerd and everybody should be a nerd then," Cecchetti boasts.

     The team will be heading to California University of Pennsylvania on March 18th for the competition.