One of the Legopalooza presentations.
By Victor Han and Olivia Crisafi
On April 3, 11 teams of elementary schoolers from seven towns concluded their FIRST Lego League Explore season at the third annual Lincoln Legopalooza.
FIRST Lego League Explore is a branch of First Lego League for children ages 6–10. Students use motorized Lego bricks to learn robotics and teamwork through a fun interactive game challenge. This year, the challenge titled “Playmakers,” placed emphasis on finding ways to be active and be healthy.
Lincoln’s high school robotics team, the GearTicks, usually runs the Legopalooza in late November, but in-person events were not possible this season. Given the GearTicks’ own experience with online competitions this year — which have allowed them some semblance of a traditional season — they aimed to provide the same opportunity for these elementary schoolers. With the help of Stephen Green, the Massachusetts FLL Explore Partner, they spent months organizing the logistics of the online event, planning fun activities and virtual judging sessions, and designing laser cut trophies.
The custom laser-cut trophy given to each team.
The GearTicks were impressed with the younger students’ tenacity through such a challenging season. The FLL Explore kids created masterful posters to showcase their season, gave a spirited online presentation of their models, and demonstrated teamwork in working together virtually.
Some of the project highlights included a walkathon that one team participated in to help their community. Another team learned how to RipStik to challenge themselves over the course of their season, and a third team explored Tinkercad. Every team received a custom laser-cut award to highlight their successes.
“The event was well planned and well executed. The limitations imposed by the need to hold a remote festival seemed nonexistent,” Green said.
While it was a new experience to run a virtual event, the GearTicks were thrilled to be able to celebrate the students’ accomplishments for the third year in a row, and they hope to be back in person next year.