News Feb 4, 2010 at 4:00 am

Watching Hundreds of Junior High Schoolers and Their Robot Friends at the Oregon Lego League Championships

Comments

1
Very nice article, Sarah. The Portland Mercury captured the spirit, enthusiasm, wonder and awe of our FLL teams. We encourage all Oregon 4th - 9th graders to try FIRST LEGO League. Registration starts in May 2010. For more information go to www.ortop.org for Oregon information or www.usfirst.org for international program information. ORTOP will be at OMSI on February 6th for the high school FIRST Tech Challenge State Qualifying Event - noon - 5pm. Free and open to the public.
Regards,
Cathy Swider
FIRST LEGO League Operational Partner, Oregon
Oregon University System
2
I can't wait 'til my kids turn ten. This looks like a lot of fun.
3
I've volunteered at these tournaments since they were just starting up, and the enthusiasm and ingenuity of the kids is absolutely incredible. Seeing the inspiration snowball from robots to their projects to other areas of their lives is the most rewarding thing I can imagine. The ORTOP program shows kids how applicable science and engineering can be in everyday life, and I hope it continues to grow - we'll all benefit!
4


I have mentored teams for the last three years and I couldnt agree more with howarthe. The enthusiasm and ingenuity of the kids is incredible and sparks the engineer in them
5
That's supercool you wrote up an article on this superrad tournament, Sarah!!! :D

I was a volunteer referee for both regionals and finals (though only on Saturday) and it was great to be a part of it. I just loved watching the different team dynamics and how they dealt with the varying conditions of the different tournament locations. You could see how some teams had a renewed confidence going into the 2nd or 3rd round, complete 180 from their attitudes in the previous round, maybe after re-calibrating the light sensors or letting an untested program loose for the first time. You can really tell the day of competition is truly rewarding for them.

And seeing different teams cheer on other teams they're competing against was particularly enjoyable. I even heard the winners from Saturday's tournament came to the one on Sunday so they could cheer on the competition. Awesome!!

I hear what you're saying about diggin' the style of team dressed like little Harry Potters. Some of those teams were so captivating to observe - both in style and demeanor. The team that stood out the most for me was the one from the Oregon School for the Deaf. They really had this effortless and truly individual style. It was so cool to watch them in competition.

Again, awesome article!!! Way to setup outside the usual alterna-press fodder.
6
47 and I still love LEGO. Took my kids to the Lego store in Orlando. They had more fun there then most of the rides.

Gary Herbstman
Byte Solutions
computer repair http://bytesolutions.com
7
The Intel Oregon FIRST LEGO League 2009 Championships presented by Rockwell Collins offered an amazing opportunity for kids to explore and embrace science and technology. I know of no other program that motivates our youth to successfully master difficult engineering and science based challenges in a team environment. I have been coaching FIRST Lego League teams for a long time, and have been overwhelmingly pleased with the growth that this program produces in our youth! Thank you, Intel and Rockwell Collins, especially, for investing in our youth to develop skills in the area of science, technology, engineering, and software programming.

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