MS Students Compete in Robotics Competition

Members of the Middle School Robotics team recently participated in the First Lego League competition at Monarch High School in Louisville, CO – sixth graders Luke McAdams, Eli Goldstein, and Dominic Ingram; seventh graders Jaden Moore, Jack Younger and Saijel Burkett; and eighth grader Levi Pinkert. 

Students learned to program and engineer Lego Mindstorms EV3 robots to complete challenging tasks, which included researching real-world problems such as food safety, recycling, and energy consumption. The students then developed and presented their solution for a challenge created by FIRST Lego League.

 

FIRST, which stands for “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology,” was founded in 1989 to inspire young people's interest and participation in science and technology. FLL competitions are focused on the value of teamwork, researching real-world problems and brainstorming solutions.

 

This year, in the competition themed “Animal Allies,” each team was tasked with identifying a specific problem relating to how people and animals interact and finding an innovative solution.

 

According to Thanh Luong, the robotics coach and Middle School science teacher, while the students did not place, they are “ready for next year.”

 

“The students worked extremely hard to prepare for this one-day competition and learned how to work together to overcome differences in order to accomplish a common goal. They also met kids with similar interests from schools all over Colorado, and learned how to be graciously professional,” says Luong.