At the Colorado state robotics competition in December, our Aspen Middle School “Lightning Strikes Twice” team took second overall and was invited to compete at the world championship competition in April, in Houston, TX! The team, composed of Nicco DiMaria, Tamir Finesilver, Sam Gilmore, Ember LaPenna, Lorelei LaPenna, and Hailey Ward, competes in the FIRST LEGO League Challenge which introduces students 9-14 years old to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) through fun, exciting, hands-on learning. Participants gain real-world problem solving experience through a guided, global robotics program. Friendly competition is at the heart of Challenge, as teams of students engage in research, problem-solving, coding, and engineering – building and programming a LEGO robot that navigates the missions of a robot game. The team researched, designed, and built a model of a turtle-inspired, autonomous underwater vehicle using the principles of biomimicry that will gather data on coral reefs. The world championship will feature 160 teams from 50 states and 67 countries. Our AMS team qualified out of a pool of 30,000 teams. Incredible!
