Carl Hayden High School's Falcon Robotics team won the top prize in the international robotics championship over the weekend in Atlanta.

The 42-member high school team includes students from some of the lowest income neighborhoods in Phoenix.

Twenty-two students went to Atlanta and members of the community will be at Sky Harbor International Airport tonight to honor them when they return.

The teens have competed this school year with a robot they built and named "Virginia's Dream." It was named for a girl that team members knew before she was deported after it was discovered her family was in Arizona illegally.

"I think this is a great thing for Arizona to be recognized as leaders in science and technology at the high school level," said Fredi Lajvardi, Falcon Robotics team coach. "There were 26 countries present and Carl Hayden High School from Phoenix, Arizona was No. 1."

The Carl Hayden team bested 550 teams from around the world.

The west Phoenix team won the Robotics International Chairman's Award. Carl Hayden High twice was runner-up for the international honor.

The Chairman's Award goes beyond the team's winning races at competitions. It is focused on the team's effort to change the culture of science from that of stodgy science to one that is fun and exciting.

To reach that point, Carl Hayden's team reached into the community. They created an underwater competition in Chandler, created the FIRST Lego middle school tournament, appeared in film clips and mentored elementary-age students interested in joining high school teams.

The trip to Atlanta also involved the team showing judges its robot.

Fourteen-year-old Eduardo Fernandez, a member of the Falcon Robotics team, got teary-eyed when they won.

"It's like winning the World Series in a science competition," he said. "It's exciting and the feeling is incredible."

Fernandez started working robotics as a middle school student at Isaac Middle School.

"I love to build," Fernandez said.

Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne on Monday said the importance of this honor goes beyond the championship.

Science and technology jobs will be abundant in the future, Horne said and competitions like this can draw students to scientific careers.

"The future of the country depends on developing well trained scientists," Horne said. "This is a tremendous achievement on the part of the Carl Hayden High School and the students and teachers directly involved."

The Chairman's Award brings with it a $10,000 scholarship.

Previous winners have gone to the White House and met the President.

FIRST stands for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.