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The First Lego League, headquartered in Manchester, New Hampshire, held its annual regional Qualifiers for the Massachusetts region (the largest region in the FLL global competition with over 430 teams statewide) on December 11 in Worcester. The theme of this year’s competition was “Animal Allies – improving the interaction between animals and humans.” The qualifiers conducted around the state narrow the field of teams from 430 to 100, who are then invited to compete for the state championship.
Team Firestorm from Wellesley won the qualifiers and was invited to move on to the state championship round. This was the team’s rookie year in the First Lego League competition. It is made up of four fifth graders from Wellesley’s Fiske school and two from Natick’s Wilson school. In addition to placing highly in the robotics competition, the team won the best researched award for its “Fantastic Future Chicken Coop” project designed to forever change backyard chicken farming.
The team members are: Eric Bardos (Fiske), Fiona Christensen (Wilson), Tom Huang (Fiske), Tiagan Koob (Fiske), Kate Tearle (Wilson), Ethan Thomas (Fiske). The team was coached by Alex Huang and Mark Koob from Wellesley and Matt Tearle from Natick. The team was sponsored by Kids Without Moms, a 501c(3) nonprofit in Wellesley.
To follow the team’s journey, visit www.fllfirestorm.wordpress.com.
