Amherst FIRST Lego League Team Earns Judges Award at Championship

More than 1,000 spectators cheered on 355 contestants, ages 9 to 14, from over 50 teams, at the annual FIRST Lego League  New Hampshire Championship Event at Nashua High School South today. Team #10903 Naturally Disastrous from Hampstead won the first place Champion’s Award. The second place Champion’s Award went to team #426 Hollis Lightning, from Hollis.

Third place Champion's Award went to Wisdom Hunters of Nashua.

The top teams won by embodying FLL values of teamwork and mutual respect while achieving excellence and innovation in both the robot game and innovation project.

FIRST Lego League is an international program for 9- to 14-year-old children created in a partnership between FIRST and the Lego Group in 1998 to get children excited about science and technology – and teach them valuable career and life skills. Children work alongside adult mentors to design, build, and program autonomous robots using Lego MINDSTORMS and create an innovative solution to a problem as part of their research project.

This year’s Challenge – “NATURE’S FURYSM” – called for teams to research and present their own creative solutions to one of today’s most relevant topics: natural disasters.

The FLL competition is judged in four areas: project presentation; robot performance; technical design and programming of the robot; and teamwork, with a consideration of the FLL Core Values.

Championship Tournament Awards:

1st Place Champions Award – Team #10903 Naturally Disastrous – Hampstead
2nd Place Champions Award – Team #426 Hollis Lightning – Hollis 
3rd Place Champions Award – Team #125 Wisdom Hunters – Nashua 
1st Place Robot Performance Award – Team #89 Kids, Gears, Robots – Windham
2nd Place Robot Performance Award – Team #125 Wisdom Hunters
Core Values: Gracious Professionalism Award – Team #7602 The Brainstormers – Nashua
Core Values: Teamwork Award – Team #434 TechnoMagic – Pelham
Core Values: Inspiration Award – Team #8216 TWACA (Team With A Cool Acronym) – Hanover
Project: Presentation Award – Team #15903 Greenland Determinators – Greenland
Project: Innovative Solution Award – Team #12511 The Ice Jammers – Montpelier, Vt.
Project: Research Award – Team #10010 The Piratechs – Londonderry
Robot Design: Strategy & Innovation Award – Team #12045 Creative Brickz – Manchester
Robot Design: Programming Award – Team #1163 Mindstorm Mayhem – Milford
Robot Design: Mechanical design Award – Team #16968 Southside Spartans – Manchester
Judges Award: Team Consideration – Team #7491 Green Mountain Gears – South Burlington, VT
Judges Award: Hang 10 Award – Team #4445 Merrimack Hot Bots – Merrimack
Judges Award: Technical Mentor – Team #1114 4-1-1 (Four-One-One) – N/A
Judges Award: Early Starters – Team #7738 – The Meatheads – Amherst
Judges Award: Outreach – Team #1239 Brickmasters – Manchester
Judges Award: Giant leap Forward for Mankind – Team #8283 Ruby Red Monkeys From Mars – Chichester

This weekend’s New Hampshire Championship Tournament was hosted by Nashua High School South and sponsored by BAE Systems.

“Instilling passion for science, technology, engineering, and math or STEM, at an early age is key to the future of our nation,” said John Bugeau, executive sponsor of FIRST at BAE Systems Electronic Systems. “FIRST programs take the mystery out of science and technology and generate excitement among participating students in science and engineering. Students begin to realize that engineering and math can be pretty cool and start to consider career choices in the STEM fields. That’s great for the engineering pipeline which is the lifeblood for high-tech focused companies."