Among a pool of the Boundary’s young engineers-in-training, five students from Christina Lake proved they were the best at building, teamwork, programming and problem-solving.
Four teams from schools around the Boundary met at Hutton Elementary on Jan. 23 to try their hand at the First Lego League Challenge. Teams from Hutton Elementary – the Hutton Megalodons and Hutton Seahawks, Dr. D. A. Perley Elementary – Perley Kraken and Christina Lake Elementary Lakers.
A team from Nelson was supposed to attend, but cancelled the day before.
Competition started at noon with teams putting their creations through a practice run, then competed in three runs. The theme was Submerged, where teams built a backhoe-type vehicle, programmed it to do specific tasks on tablets and sent it on a course designed like an undersea coral nursery.
The objective, said organizer Marcie Carney, was to build a Lego creation that can complete as many tasks, or “missions” as it can before breaking down. The tasks and theme for the tasks are pre-determined at the start of each school year.
“There’s a robot game, which is a mission task, then there’s what we call runs, which are opportunities to compete to gain points,” she said. “There’s also the innovation project that they have to present, talk about and be judged on. There’s also robot designs they have to present they will be judged on. Then there’s a core principles and values, which is professionalism, how team members treat each other and other participants in the tournament.”
By the end, the Christina Lake Lakers were the overall champions, as well as the Innovation and Core Value winners. The team consisted of Brendan MacGregor, Wyatt Thomas, Brett Danbar, Beau Foss and Barret Foss.
Lego is a passion for all of them, with most of the team playing and building with the electronic toys together most of their lives.
“We’re all best friends and it took a lot of time and effort, blood, sweat and tears,” said MacGregor.
Brothers Beau and Barret have amassed such a Lego collection in their home they have whole shelves dedicated to their creations, with their closets stuffed as well.
They are also reaping the rewards of staying committed to the club and building.
“There were about 12 kids in Lego Club at first this year, but a lot dropped out until there was just us five,” said Beau. “It feels great because my best friend dropped out, but we ended up winning the championship.”
The Hutton Seahawks won for Best Robot Design, and the Hutton Megaladons won for Best Robot Game.
While Lego is known for their iconic, colourful building blocks, the toy has advanced greatly over the decades into electronics, so builders can create robots and other electronic gadgets.
Carney said tournaments like this give students another outlet to explore. Sports is a major draw and she is a strong supporter of sports for children, but this allows students to tinker with electronics, learn more about STEM, apply mathematics and be creative in problem-solving.
“This is another great way to have teamwork activities,” she said “Many think they can only get teamwork out of sports, but this is another opportunity for kids to work together and build their skillset.”
This was also a qualifying tournament for regional competition. The Lakers will go on to competition in Kelowna Feb. 8, with the winner of that competition going to Vancouver in March.
There are approximately 150 countries involved in First Lego League, according to their website.