Thursday, August 16, 2012

They Said Yes

They've done it again!  Last night we got the call, and two Weidenaar guys committed to being on the Brickburner's First Lego League team again.

For those of you who don't know what that means...This is a team event co-sponsored by FIRST and Lego.  Each team programs a robot and comes up with an innovative solution to a real world problem while exhibiting the core values established by the organization.  Then they share and celebrate what they've done at an event.  The events are a lot of fun.  And you have the opportunity to progress competively from a local event to a state event, possibly to a "world celebration" event. (The website says it's not a competition but a culmination.  But, I think you should be aware that teams are awarded for things.  However the organization does a great job at emphasizing the learning and the fun over competing.)  Here's the address to FLL's site. http://www.firstlegoleague.org/

What that also means is a 3 hour evening practice and a 3 hour Saturday practice each week from September to January.  Our team puts a lot of time into this.  It's a pretty big commitment.

Last year, God blessed their team in a really special way.  They entered their project for the FLL Global Innovation Award and won a trip to Rhode Island.  They presented at the National Center for Food Protection and Defense Conference.

Those people were really kind to them.  They stayed in a fancy hotel.  They met people from all over the world, including someone who had done some of the research they'd used  in their project.  They swam in the Atlantic Ocean.  They presented their project and received an award at a banquet.  That kind of blessing just makes you shake your head in wonder.

Our team kind of originated through our homeschool co-op's 4-H group years ago.  Our town has a number of teams through the public schools, 4-H groups, and girls scout groups.

FIRST Lego League is a really great opportunity to learn to research, to improve team work, to grow in presenting a topic visually and verbally, and to do some robotic programming.  Those are some great skills.

If you've never been exposed to First Lego League, but are interested, I encourage you investigate it further. It's been a blessing to our family in the past, and apparently will be during this school year as well.

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