A Central Park Elementary robotics team is heading into rare territory, planning to compete at the Western Edge FIRST\u00a0Lego League Invitational in Long Beach, California, from May 29-31.<\/p>\n
The “Beyond the Brick” team of seven students in fourth and fifth grades qualified for the invitational by placing third out of about 40 teams in the First\u00a0Lego League Robotics state tournament Dec. 20 at Mason High School, south of Lansing.<\/p>\n
They are the first team from Central Park, a school that opened in 2017, to compete in an invitational.<\/p>\n
The students – Mason Curry, Evelyn Laitar, Cassey Ackerman, Bo Rui Koh, Camille Krause, Audrey Houser and Mark Xu – also placed third at the regional competition in Freeland on Dec. 6.<\/p>\n
Coming together in early September, the team designed a robot game and an innovation project and researched this year’s FLL theme of “On Earth.” They even took a field trip to the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and talked with archaeologists there.<\/p>\n
“They have to learn how to code, how to build a tool, and solve the missions,” explained Shan Pin Koh, one of the team’s three coaches along with SzeSze Ng and Lina Cano Ackerman.<\/p>\n
Part of the challenge was to construct a pyramid-shaped cradle to\u00a0prevent an egg from falling and cracking. The egg represented a precious artifact that was being shipped from a dig site to a science lab.<\/p>\n
The students chose the pyramid design that took the highest\u00a0number of attempts of\u00a0dropping the egg\u00a0from a certain height before it broke.<\/p>\n
“We ran a lot of tests and broke a lot of eggs – that’s the best part,” one of the students said with a smile.<\/p>\n
The three coaches were presented with the Coach Mentor Award at the state tournament after being nominated by their team.<\/p>\n