Rookie robotic teams from three schools made it to the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) LEGO League Super-Regional competition with two of them moving on to compete at the state level.
Teams from Kedron Elementary, J.C. Booth Middle and Rising Starr Middle advanced to the Super-Regional held at Columbus State University on January 11 after placing in their regional competitions. Teams from all three schools competed against each other, and those from other counties.
After a lot of hard work on the part of all of the teams, it was Kedron’s Red Team that took first place, advancing them to the state championship. Booth’s team, the Tsunami Warriors, took third place, earning them a trip to the state competition as well.
Another success for Kedron was the Purple Team’s win of the Robot Strategy and Innovation Award.
Rising Starr did not make it to the state level, put the first-year team had a strong finish placing 15th out of the 32 teams at the Super-Regional.
“I am proud of what they did accomplish since I was a new coach and this is our school’s first year participating,” said Wendy Keener.
In an interesting twist of fate, coaches Nathan Kufchak (Kedron Elementary) and Rob Bell (J.C. Booth Middle) found themselves in friendly competition (one of the core values of FIRST) at the Super-Regional after having coached together at Fayette Middle last year, and taking that school’s first-ever robotic team all the way to the state championship. After Fayette Middle closed, the coaches ended up at different schools and started new teams.
“It’s nice to know that both of us took enough from each other to branch out and start over with new students,” said Rob Bell.
Kufchak is enjoying the victory over his former coaching partner, but he predicts that future wins over Booth will be tough as the school’s teams get stronger.
“This is probably the last time we can beat Booth since they will have all of our fifth graders next year, but hey…once is enough for me,” said Kufchak.
The state championship will be held at Georgia Tech on January 25.
