Who

The Oak Ridge’s two FIRST LEGO League teams practice twice weekly at school until 4:45 p.m. Each LEGO League team is made up of a total of no more than 10 students from 6th, 7th and 8th grade who want to design and program robots, research the topic of animals, and produce the presentation. Students work as a team to make decisions. Students do ALL the work with minimal adult guidance.

What

FIRST LEGO League is an international three-part competition that emphasizes gracious professionalism and teamwork, programming a robot to complete tasks on the field mat, and researching a project and creating presentation on animals. More on http://www.firstinspires.org later in August.

When

The season runs from early September until regional competition in mid-December. If the team is chosen to go to state – Oak Ridge teams have gone the last five years – then the season is extended through state competition in January at Iowa State University. Practices are held twice a week when the majority of students can meet, until 4:45 p.m. That means students will need to arrange transportation or carpool home. As competition gets closer, more practices are necessary. There are no practices on Wednesdays. The week or so before competition we meet every day.

Expenses

Students should expect to buy a team t-shirt. Sometimes the team pitches in to supply “bling” given out at regional competition. Figure on less than $20 per student through regionals. Depending on where regionals are, there could be transportation costs; students are responsible for their own transportation. IF the team goes to state, then most families choose to book a hotel room in Ames near Iowa State University. This cost is the family’s responsibility.
MISC: School work comes first. Always. Last year, students spent about 100 hours on LEGO League from September to December. Between regional and state competition, they added another 25 hours. They had lots of fun, developed incredible team and interpersonal skills, and had lots of fun. Students are responsible for notifying coaches of absences in advance.

APPLICATIONS ARE AVAILABLE IN THE MAIN OFFICE