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Pinedale Online > News > December 2015 > Two local Robotics teams compete at the 10th Annual First Lego League Wyoming

Team Cowboy Joes. Photo by Sublette 4-H.
Team Cowboy Joes
Front row left to right: Eva Collins, Brooke Noble, Thayne Daniels, Holden Saxton, Garett Swain, Jackson Harber, Luke Gray, Zane McClain. Back Row: Natalie Collins, Janae Arne, John Covill, Sandra McLoughlin. Photo courtesy Sublette 4-H.

Robo Nerds. Photo by Sublette County 4H.
Robo Nerds
Back row: Jacob Johnson, Grant Fornstrom, Ethan Adkins, Liam Fallon Front row: Mackenzie Johnson, Ceili Fallon, Wyatt Griffin, Noah Adkins Photo courtesy Sublette 4H.
Two local Robotics teams compete at the 10th Annual First Lego League Wyoming
Bring home top honors from Championships in Casper
by Sublette 4-H
December 11, 2015

Pinedale youth robotics teams attended the First Lego League (FLL) championships December 5sth at the Casper Events Center. This is the 8th year the teams have attended this event. Teams were sponsored through grants to the Sublette County 4-H by Linn Energy and Sublette BOCES.

Team "Robo Nerds," made up of Pinedale elementary and middle school students, brought home the 1st place trophy for robot performance with the highest score (477) of all 62 teams in the tournament during the robot mission rounds. The team also received the 3rd place trophy for their research project which proposed using recycled tires to create sound barriers in sage grouse nesting areas. The team worked with local Game and Fish Biologist, Therese Hartman, to learn about sage grouse issues and to come up with their idea. They presented it to Kevin Williams of QEP and Greg Schamber of Jonah Energy. They were able to test the idea and collect data using tires and space donated by Jim Bob and Dahlia Griffin. Team members included: Jacob and Mackenzie Johnson, Grant Fornstrom, Liam and Ceili Fallon, Wyatt Griffin, and Ethan and Noah Adkins. The team was coached by Sheri Fornstrom, Mary Johnson and Andy Adkins.

Team "Cowboy Joes" was made up of Janae Arne, John Covill, Zayne McClain, Brooke Noble, Eva Collins, Jackson Harber, Holden Saxton, Luke Gray, Thayne Daniels and Garrett Swain of Pinedale Elementary and Pinedale Middle School. The team met from September to the first of December perfecting their robot design and working on their research project on recycling K-cups into "frost-busting" thermal insulating blankets. The team learned about local trash and recycling from Shelley at the Pinedale Transfer Station and used local gardeners to test their frost-buster thermal blankets. They collected K-cups for about 6 months for their project and then shared what they learned about the challenge associated with recycling them with the local school board. The team earned the 1st place trophy for their innovative solution presented at the FLL tournament in Casper. The team was coached by Sandra McLoughlin and Natalie Collins and received help from numerous parents and community members.

First Lego League is a robotics program for 9 to 14 year olds which is designed to get children excited about science and technology, and teach them valuable employment and life skills. FLL can be used in a classroom setting but is not solely designed for this purpose. Teams, comprised of up to ten children with at least one adult coach, can also be associated with a pre-existing club or organization, homeschooled, or just be a group of friends who wish to do something awesome. In 1998, FIRST Founder Dean Kamen and the LEGO Group’s Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen joined forces to create FIRST LEGO League (FLL), a powerful program that engages children in playful and meaningful learning while helping them discover the fun in science and technology through the FIRST experience. Dean and Kjeld have a shared belief that FLL inspires teams to research, build, and experiment, and by doing so, they live the entire process of creating ideas, solving problems, and overcoming obstacles, while gaining confidence in their abilities to positively use technology. "We want to change the culture by celebrating the mind." - Dean Kamen, Founder, FIRST.

The cornerstone of the FLL program is the FLL Core Values. They are among the fundamental elements that distinguish FLL from other programs of its kind. By embracing the Core Values, participants learn that friendly competition and mutual gain are not separate goals, and that helping one another is the foundation of teamwork. The FLL core values are; We are a team, We do the work to find solutions with the guidance from our coaches and mentors, We know our coaches and mentors don’t have all the answers; we learn together, We honor the spirit of friendly competition, What we discover is more important that what we win, We share our experiences with others, We display Gracious Professionalism and Coopertition in everything we do, We have fun.


Pinedale Online > News > December 2015 > Two local Robotics teams compete at the 10th Annual First Lego League Wyoming

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