On December 8, St. Croix Catholic Lego League team competed at a regional competition at Eden Prairie Central Middle School.  The team had a strong showing on the robot - scoring a team high 95 points which was good enough for 3rd place.

Lego League has 4 areas of competition:  Robot scoring, Project, Robot Design and Team.  For Team, the group won the Team Spirit award.  The team was called out not only for their team communication, but also for being gracious competitors, noticeably helpful to other teams and leaving a great impression on the pit judges.  At one point in the afternoon, a team came over asking how to use the Ultrasonic Sensor which measures distance from an object.  Team members did all the teaching - and Peter York did a great job of explaining the coding to them.  

The day was long - going from 8am to almost 6pm.  Thanks to everyone getting ready for the competition - from the extra practices to pulling together an extra mission at the competition.  While the team won't be moving on to the next round, we have a lot to be proud of how the team showed for the school.

Brian York and Steve Hebert, coaches

FIRST LEGO League is an international program that seeks to inspire students in grades 4-8 to practice imaginative thinking and teamwork. The program involves a project that requires the team to take on a real world challenge and a related robot game, in which the more missions completed, the more points the team earns. The challenge this year takes teams into space, where the young engineers will explore, challenge, and innovate in the vast expanse of space.

Teams compete at a regional tournament in the Fall with potential to progress to a state tournament. Each team is 4-8 students.