St. Vincent students participate in Lego League

Friday, Feb. 06, 2015

Saint Vincent de Paul 4th- and 5th-grade students made quite a showing at their inaugural First Lego League (FLL) Qualifying Event at Murray High School on Jan. 10. 

The all-day event touts the Lego League’s trademarked “Coopertition” (Cooperation + Competition) to stress the value of the experience, and the journey of overall teamwork and learning on the journey to success. This year’s theme, “World Class,” focused on how people learn as a society. The Lego League’s age range is from 9 to 14 years old; although on the younger end, the St. Vincent team of eight rookies (team name “Electro League”) proved they could hold their own, putting themselves and an autonomous robot through the paces across three equally-weighted, judged areas:

• Research Project – The Electro League focused on school kids and three types of learners: auditory, visual and tactile. They researched the topic, provided surveys to students in the 1st and 6th grades, and gave teachers tips on how to best reach all these types of students. During the competition, they gave a 5-minute presentation (complete with skit) to the judges. 

• Core Values – The St. Vincent’s team provided a poster and presentation for the judges to describe how they came together as a team, using each student’s individual strengths to reach their goals. 

• Robot Design/Robot Challenge – Students built their robot on the stage at Murray High School. A 4’ x 8’ table held 11 different “missions,” each built of Lego pieces and interactive in some way. The Electro League programmed their robot using a Lego Mindstorms EV3 brain to perform its interactive tasks autonomously. With 2:30 on the clock, the start signal blew as the team hurried to align the robot and start it on each mission; focusing on four main missions around the table. The best score of three rounds was taken for each team as a final ranking. 

As the Saint Vincent students entered the FLL program, they had little idea just how much it entailed. However, in the end, the Electro League gained skills in robotic research, programming and building. When they left the auditorium with ribbons in hand and wide smiles, the team members said they look forward to next season’s competition; the theme of which was announced as “Trash Talkin’.”