Others take top prizes at Super Regional
FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) LEGO League teams from Crabapple Lane Elementary and Flat Rock Middle were among the top scorers at the Georgia Super Regional Competition held at Clayton State University in January, and are heading to the state competition in February.
The FIRST LEGO League competition consists of three parts: an innovation project where teams choose and solve a real world problem, a robot game where teams build and program a robot to solve a set of missions, and a demonstration of core values, celebrating discovery, teamwork and gracious professionalism.
The Crabapple Lane Elementary team, Unique Builders for Tomorrow, took the Grand Champion Award that is given to a team that embodies the FIRST LEGO League experience by fully embracing the core values while achieving excellence and innovation in both the robot game and project. Since they won the grand championship, the team automatically advances to the state competition in February.
In addition to being named grand champions, the team took home a second place Robot Performance Award. Their project focused on green concepts for J.C. Booth Middle through the use of solar panels, hydroponics and natural light and materials to create a school concept that is sustainable and integrates these elements into the curriculum for enhanced learning.
Team members are Masaya Misugi, Thomas Morrow, Corin Staples, Isabelle Sanchez, Ember Vlachos, and Mark Blahnik. The team is coached by Patrick Staples and Jaime Sanchez.
Flat Rock Middle’s team, SAFE (Smart, Artistic, Fun Eagles), won the Robot Design Award at the super regional and earned enough points to advance to the state competition. Their project focus was retractable speed humps to slow down speeding cars on the road in front of the school. The humps can rise during school zone hours and be lowered for the rest of the day, weekends, holidays, and summers. Team members are Madison Lohr, Jya Lee, Gavin MClure, Devon Nandial, Darion Nandial, Jaden Torres, and Jack Jung. The team is coached by Melissa Lohr and Darryl Hutchinson.
Rising Starr Middle and Inman Elementary also competed at the super regional event with Rising Starr winning The Core Values Award, which is given to the team that displays extraordinary enthusiasm and spirit, knows they can accomplish more together than they could as individuals, and shows each other and other teams respect at all times.
Teams from around Georgia that pass the first round of qualifications proceed to a super regional competition before qualifying to compete at the state level.
