Two UCS elementary school teams qualify for robotics state championship competition

SHELBY TOWNSHIP/STERLING HEIGHTS/UTICA — Two Utica Community Schools teams will be competing in the FIRST Lego League Robotics state championship after earning top honors at the ThunderQuest competition.

The Eagle Masters, from Switzer Elementary in Shelby Township, and The Vicious Lego Girls, from Messmore Elementary in Sterling Heights, will be competing in the state competition in January.

The Eagle Masters earned second for the Champion’s Award and the Vicious Lego Girls earned second in the robot game rank and first in the robot design judging at ThunderQuest, the largest regional Lego robotics competition sponsored annually by the FIRST ThunderChickens of UCS.

Curtis DeSaele, the ThunderQuest tournament director, said it is amazing what the students do.

“These are elementary school kids who think this is about Legos, but it is really about problem-solving and working together. They are learning how to engineer and how to program a robot (that) performs tasks without joysticks or without the controls they use for gaming,” he said.

This year’s event Nov. 16 at Ford II High School featured more than 60 First Lego League teams and Explore Teams from schools across the region. In total, UCS teams earned nine top honors at the competition. Other honors were earned by the Deep Diving Eagles, from Switzer Elementary, who earned third place in robot game rank and third in the robot design judging; the Morgan Elementary Sharks, who earned fourth place in robot game rank and first place in the core values judging; the Lego Legends, from Messmore Elementary, who earned first place in the innovation project judging; and Beck Bot Builders, from Beck Elementary, were honored for innovation project judging

FIRST Lego Robotics introduces younger students, ages 6-12, to real-world engineering challenges by building Lego-based robots to complete tasks on a thematic playing surface. Project-based, hands-on FIRST programs promote coding, programming and engineering in an environment where students work collaboratively to solve a yearly robotics challenge.

The theme this year is “Masterpiece” (Imagine and communicate Art across the world). Robert Monroe, the UCS superintendent, said the district’s administration wishes its teams the best as they represent the community in the state tournament.

“All of our teams who participated in ThunderQuest need to be recognized for the hours they committed to building their robot and creating projects related to this year’s challenge, Imagining and Communicating Art Across the World. ThunderQuest continues to be one of our district’s favorite fall traditions,” he said.