In just their second season participating in the FIRST LEGO League, Holy Rosary School’s Lego Robotics teams have advanced to the semifinal round of competition in Seattle. Only the top 25 percent from each qualifier are advanced to the semifinal round of competition, and all three Holy Rosary teams, led by school parent Cass Willis, won a judged award and have been invited to the semi final competition in January 2018.

Each August, Holy Rosary School invites interested 4th-8th grade students to join its FIRST LEGO League teams. Students research the annual theme, create a LEGO EV3 robot to complete autonomous missions, decide on a real-world problem related to the theme that they want to create a solution for, and demonstrate their understanding of the league’s core values in front of judges.

Many lessons about teamwork, engineering, problem solving, and presentation skills are learned in their twice-weekly meetings. Regional qualifying events occur at the beginning of December. Advancing teams must display a good balance between robotic performance, project research, and core values.

Below are the results for the Holy Rosary teams:

TacoKatz

Coaches: Holly and Greg O’Connor

Competed 12/9/17 in the North Seattle qualifier at Ballard High School

Received the Innovative Solution award for their research project

Official award description: “This award recognizes a team’s solution that is exceptionally well-considered and creative, with good potential to solve the problem researched.”

Aquafficial Intelligence

Coaches: Alfons Menanno and Cheri Orsi

Competed 12/10/17 in the North Seattle qualifier at Ballard High School

Received the Gracious Professionalism award

Official award description: “This award recognizes a team whose members show each other and other teams respect at all times. They recognize that both friendly competition and mutual gain are possible, on and off the playing field.”

Hydro Heroes

Coaches: Adam Eyer and Mark Scholl

Competed 12/10/17 in the North Seattle qualifier at Ballard High School

Received the Inspiration award

Official award description: “This award celebrates a team that is empowered by their FIRST LEGO League experience and displays extraordinary enthusiasm and spirit.”

For more information, including videos and FAQs, visit www.firstinspires.org/robotics/fll.