On Nov. 14, six Crossroads middle schoolers completed in a First Lego League Robotics qualifying match. The competition has several aspects: the Robot Game, which involves programming a Lego robot to accomplish specific missions on a playing field; the Project, which involves researching a problem related to this year’s theme (Trash Trek) and coming up with a solution; and Core Values, learning and exhibiting the values promoted by FLL, such as teamwork. This is Crossroads first year with an FLL team, and they have been working hard since the start of the year. They did very well at the qualifier, especially for a rookie team! For quite awhile in the morning, they had the highest score for the Robot game, only to be eclipsed by a few teams as the day went on. They also received a lot of positive feedback from the judges on their Core Values and Project, which focused on limiting the number of batteries delivered to landfills by encouraging use of rechargeable batteries. Though they are not moving on to the next level of competition, they did an excellent job and I’m proud of them all.
Photo 2 caption: Kamau and Russell making adjustments to the robot during a round of competition.