On May 3, we partnered with FIRST Inspires and the Riverview Gardens School District to host a district-wide, end-of-year FIRST LEGO League challenge at Westview Middle School. The event capped off many weeks of work by students and showcased their robotic creations as they competed for the title of district champion. At the end, the Top Score Award went to Glasgow Elementary, the Innovation Award was presented to Koch Elementary, and Meadows Elementary received the Breakthrough Award!
FIRST LEGO League (FLL) is an international association in the STEM robotics field where students are introduced to engineering and coding through building robots from LEGOs and then programming them to perform a series of “missions.” Little Bit currently hosts FLL teams in seven elementary schools in the Riverview Gardens School District, partnering and training with the teams’ designated coaches and assisting with their weekly progress.
“This is much more than students playing with LEGO bricks and electronics,” says Little Bit President and CEO, Miranda Walker Jones. “The students are working out a solution to a real-world problem related to each year’s theme (this year it was ‘Submerged’), while they are learning to design and code – important skills for the current and future job market. Students also learn the essential skills of problem solving, perseverance, innovating, and working as a team.”
During the competition, teams were scored on how well they demonstrated their missions, a five-minute presentation on how they would tackle this year’s problem, and core values they displayed throughout the competition, such as good sportsmanship and collaboration. For this year’s challenge, Ameren was also on hand to demonstrate some of their robotic technology for the students and talk about how the technology is used in a variety of ways to increase efficiency, such as conducting inspections on power lines and helping to speed up storm restoration efforts.
Walker Jones says the FLL program is supported by several sponsors, some of whom were on hand to observe the competition. “We’re so grateful to have partners that enable us to bring access to advanced programs for students. Luzco, who sponsors the team at Danforth Elementary, is heavily invested in the team, with employees volunteering their time to work directly with the students.” Other sponsors include Stern Brothers, PwC, the Josh Seidel Memorial Fund, and the Suzy Eastman Charitable Fund.
