Students spend about two months preparing before competing in the FIRST Lego® League tournament at Grace College. During that time, students are engaged in research, writing, programming and building. They have to learn to work together as a team and communicate effectively with one another. Those who prepared the most and best for Saturday’s second annual event got to move on to state competition Dec. 14 at IPFW. The four teams who did that were two from Warsaw Community Schools and two from Wawasee. Dr. Kris Farwell, tournament director and Grace College mathematics program director, said the theme for the robotics competition this year is “Nature’s Fury.” There are several main aspects to the competition. The first is that teams have to give a presentation on an innovative solution. Since the theme this year has to deal with nature, the teams had to come up with a solution for a problem involving a natural disaster, like flooding. That’s 25 percent of their score. Another aspect and 25 percent are the core values. Teams have to display values like teamwork. Another 25 is earned by a robotics demonstration. Teams have to show how they programmed and built the robots. The last 25 percent of each team’s score is the robot game. Teams have to make their robots go through obstacles to get points. Saturday’s events started at 9 a.m. and went until about 4:15 p.m. Farwell said this year’s competition was the same set-up as last year’s, just with a different theme. Of the 21 teams this year, the furthest away was a Fort Wayne team, but the rest were from the surrounding areas. “These are our future mathematicians, engineers and scientists and we hope to develop their zeal for knowledge and how the world works,” Farwell stated. He noted the sponsors for this year’s event were 3M, Grace College and the Morning Optimist Club. Ben Barkey, Washington STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) Academy science coach, said it’s a global competition so everyone gets their information for the tournament on the same day in early September. Warsaw Community Schools had four teams from Washington, four from Edgewood and one from Eisenhower compete Saturday. At Washington, Barkey said every fourth- through sixth-grader got a part of the project in their classrooms. The innovative solution component was done in the writing classes, while science classes got their hands on the robots. The school has four robot teams that meet after school. The students who were more interested in the robotics were on those teams. Washington is only in its second year as a STEM academy so it’s still a pretty new program, Barkey said. However, the fifth-graders in the robotics competition were part of it last year so they were a little more familiar with it. The contest itself, he said, is not so much about winning, but learning and student growth. One of WCS Superintendent Dr. Craig Hintz’s initiatives is STEM education, Barkey said. The FIRST Lego® League is an excellent model for incorporating STEM into learning. “I think it’s fun and it’s a good way for people to get out and learn about robotics,” Washington fifth-grader Ali Minix said. “I would say memorizing the skit and making your robots do the missions and things you want them to do” is the hardest part, Emma Spencer, Washington fifth-grader, stated. Washington fifth-grader Hannah Hutton said her favorite part was just thinking about going to competition and then being there Saturday. Elizabeth Lopez, Washington fifth-grader, said she learned “to work with each other and don’t rush other people, what they like to do. Because we know it’s hard to work with a group and we might get time and want to get things done.” Washington Principal Tom Ray said a lot of people may think the robotics contest is just about engineering, but if the student teams don’t do well in their presentations and research, they don’t move on. Barkey also thanked teachers and coaches David Burden, Rebecca Saas, Melanie Slone and Martha Beeson for all their help with the competition this year. Edgewood Middle School science teacher Kristen Swangin said the middle school’s eighth-grade honors classes spent September through Oct. 14 with the robots as a classroom project. An in-school contest determined which four teams would compete at Saturday’s contest. Once it was determined which teams were advancing, students then worked on their robots Tuesday and Thursday mornings and after school if they wanted. She said her students were excited and nervous. Swangin said the competition board this year was better than last year’s because it had more to do with science curriculum. Wawasee coach Ryan Edgar brought three teams to the contest. The teams were part of the school’s robotics club, and had to be a part of the club before they could take part in the contest. Edgar said since September his students had two hours of practice two days a week after school. During the final week, they had two hours every day after school. Two of the Wawasee teams looked at forest fires while the other researched tsunamis. “All of them are wanting to make it on to the state tournament,” Edgar said Saturday as the competition commenced. “Last year was a big learning experience, so this year they have an idea of what it takes to move on.” Whitko Middle School coach Teresa Knepple had four teams at the contest this year. One was an after-school team, with the three other teams being from her STEM class which she started. The after-school team met three nights a week for up to two hours nightly. The other teams had 50 minutes each day since September. She said she noticed a difference between the after-school team and the classroom teams. “After school, they’ve already gone all day so they’re spent. So progress may be slow at first. In school, it’s the first thing in the morning and it’s grade-based and they choose to be in it. They are also a little more fresh,” Knepple said. However, both groups have the same issues in regards to dealing with people and getting along, she said. “The big difference is the time of day and where they’re at mentally and physically,” she stated.
