Story posted Friday, January 22, 2010
Local Students Enjoy LEGO Robotics Contest
By RICHARD MAYER Assistant Managing Editor
Students from Lincoln Middle School in Mt. Prospect may not have won any major awards at last weekend's FIRST LEGO League (FLL) State Championship Tournament in Arlington Hts., but their principal says there's no reason to be disappointed.
"Going and representing the school was a great experience for them," said Lincoln Principal Don Angelaccio. "The event is very academic focused and it's nice to celebrate that experience for the kids."
One of the Lincoln robotics teams, the Thunderbirds, was honored as one of the top five teams for their presentation. They finished 20th overall out of 64 teams that competed. Thunderbirds participants were: Henry Edwards, Erica Nelson, Theo Nelson, Tom Olsen, Teddy Reimann, Bret Tittle, Aidan Toniolo, and Mitchell Trezise.
The other Lincoln team, a team of seventh graders called The Crash Test Dummies, finished in 32d place, according to Eric Arndt, spokesperson for the event. Members of this team were: Oliver Khairallah, Michael Mariani, Charlie Revord, Vlad Statulat, Tommy Surleta, Ben Szafarz, Kishan Trivedi, and Alex Wagner.
Mt. Prospect wasn't completely denied at the all-day robotics event, however. A non-school sponsored team comprised of middle school students from Mt. Prospect called iLego was declared champions of the entire event.
Students from Quest Academy in Palatine took third place in robotic design; and another non-school sponsored team from Arlington Hts. called SWAT took home the first place Ambassador Award.
Arndt said each team was judged on robotic performance, research presentation, teamwork, and design and programming. Each component was 25% of their overall score. Students use Lego building blocks to help construct the small ‘bots. Students will begin preparing for next year's competition later this year.
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