The World Class Warriors FLL Robotics team from JC Booth Middle School leaves May 14 for Legoland in California to represent Georgia at the US Open competition. The team’s robot scored the highest number of points in Georgia, and one of the highest at any state competition in the nation.
Every year the teams must also develop an innovative solution to a challenge. The World Class Warriors developed a new innovative teaching/learning system based on learnings from addictive activities like video games and gambling combined with the latest neuroscience findings.
The system, which they named Braingagement, was shown to more than 70 Fayette County teachers, of whom 84 percent rated their solution as very innovative and 69 percent responded that their idea would make teaching more fun and effective.
The team has put in a lot of energy to ensure they put their best foot forward, but the primary goal was to learn while having fun.
“We put a lot of work in because thinking of how to improve education is inspiring,” said team member Caitlin van Zyl. “Education is one of the biggest investments the U.S. makes every year and even a 2-percent improvement would create huge returns. This is very exciting.”
The JC Booth robotics season was a great success after support and sponsorship from leading companies in the area.
“We would not have been able to expose 50 of our students to this great program had it not been for the corporate and individual supporters based in the Fayette County,” said school principal Dr. Ted Lombard. “Panasonic, Yamaha, Chick-fil-A, Hella and Computer Parts Warehouse were wonderful patrons.”
Another team spokesperson credited the initial publicity from a previous story in the Citizen with sparking the community interest that led to more than $10,000 in fundraising that allowed 50 students to participate this year.
