Two teams with home schooled students from Garland recently participated in the North Texas FIRST LEGO® League Regional Championship Robotics Tournament. The theme of this season’s FLL was “Animal Allies.”
The Mind-Crafters team is made up of home schooled students from Plano, Wylie, Murphy and Fate, as well as Noah Hotopp, a 6th-grader from Garland. There is one other 6th-grader, a fifth-grader and two 4th-graders on the team. The other team with Garland participants was Orange Crush.
Sixty 60 teams and nearly 600 youth competed in the tournament after months of preparation that began as soon as they received this season’s theme in August 2016. The students spent months studying, dissecting and analyzing real-world challenges associated with the complex world of animal and human interaction and coming up with innovative solutions using science and technology.
The TechnoWarriors, with students from Coppell and Irving took first place in the competition and will advance to the World Festival in Houston to be held in April. The second place team, The Robomonkeys, with students from Plano and Dallas will also head to the World Festival. Taking third place, the Hockadaisies, with students from The Hockaday School in Dallas, will head to the LEGOLAND® North American Open in Carlsbad, California, in May.
The North Texas FLL Championship Robotics Tournament was produced by the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, presented by Lockheed Martin and hosted by Parish Episcopal School and Community Center. Supporting sponsors were Rockwell Collins and ExxonMobil. Qualifier hosts were the Allen High School, Amarillo College, Bethesda Christian Academy, Chapel Hill Academy, Conrad High School, Fellowship Christian Academy, Grand Saline High School, The Parish Episcopal School, The Advanced Technology Complex, Trinity High School, UME Preparatory Academy and Wedgwood Middle School.
The mission is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders and FLL engages children through exciting, mentor-based programs that build math, science and technology skills. Aimed at an international audience of students, ages 9-14, the competition teaches real-world problem-solving through engineering design and teamwork.
“Lockheed Martin’s ongoing sponsorship of the North Texas FIRST LEGO® League tournament underscores our commitment to science, technology, engineering and math education for students in our region, and it helps us meet a critical need: keeping the engineering pipeline filled,” said Hannah Stone, manager of Community Relations for Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. “Firing the imagination of students is the first step toward a rewarding engineering career, and, as we’ve seen over the years, this tournament stokes enthusiasm in a wonderful way.”
“FIRST Lego League gives students a chance to think and act like scientists and engineers in training,” said Dan Kohl, the interim CEO of the Perot Museum of Nature and Science. “The competitive, high-energy nature of this program not only inspires in a big way but serves as a gateway for young people to pursue exciting careers in science.”
The Perot Museum of Nature and Science has been the operational partner for the North Texas FLL region since 2008, coordinating and overseeing all North Texas FLL events, the largest of which is the Regional Championship Tournament typically held in January or February. The North Texas region boasts one of the fastest rates of growth for FLL, from 25 teams in 2008 to 391 teams registered for the 2016-17 season.
For more information, go to perotmuseum.org/FLL.