Twenty students, Lakewood Science Teachers Jennifer Griffin and Renee Toms, volunteers and parents welcomed 13 other robotics teams from all over the region for a day of challenging competition on December 3. The event was run by FIRST, and was made possible by Lakewood’s teams in conjunction with Salina Central’s robotics team HorsePOWER Team 3172. “The best part of this season has been coding, I really enjoy it!” said Mekayla Ashiedu.
FIRST limits teams to 10 students. Lakewood’s Teams, 43190 – Mustang Megatrons and 43191 – Mustang Megatrons 2.0, were formed as an after-school robotics program. Through the Dane G Hanson’s grant, Mrs. Toms was able to procure 24 Sphero Bolt Robots so that we could pre-teach coding skills. Snacks and bussing are provided by ESSER2 funds which support improving student academic achievement and helping to close the learning gap created by COVID-19. This year the teams were separated early so that they could build separate strategies. “It has been such a joy to watch the students overcome and persevere through these challenges. We’ve got a creative bunch, and FIRST robotics has allowed these students to shine!” said Renee Toms, coach.
Each year FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) puts out a new challenge for students to solve, which is revealed worldwide simultaneously. The teams have from August to December to develop a strategy, build a Lego robot, code the robot instructions and create an Innovation project. This year’s challenge was called Super Powered, which encompassed forms of energy. Students learned about different forms of energy each week and built Lego models of them for the challenge board. The teams were also challenged to come up with an innovative solution to harness alternative energy sources which they then researched and designed the solution in Lego form. “These students learned so much this season all while having fun!” said coach Griffin.