Basking Ridge Team Qualifies For State-Level First LEGO League Robotics Competition

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — Basking Ridge Team – Lego Logics, team of four seventh-grade students from Basking Ridge qualified for the New Jersey State First LEGO League (FLL) Robotics Competition, where 80 teams from across North Jersey competed on Dec. 13 to 14 at Mount Olive High School.

The team includes three current William Annin Middle School students and one former WAMS student who recently moved to Mount Olive. The team is parent-coached, and this marked the first year participating in First LEGO League for all team members. The students earned their spot at the state level following a strong performance at the regional championships held in November.

First LEGO League is an international STEM competition that challenges students to think like engineers, programmers, and innovators. During the robot game, teams must design, build, and program a LEGO robot to complete 14 missions in 2 minutes and 30 seconds, requiring precision coding, strategic planning, and teamwork.

Teams are also evaluated by judges in three additional areas: Innovation Project, Robot Design, and Core Values, which emphasize creativity, collaboration, inclusion, respect, and gracious professionalism.

At the regional competition, the Basking Ridge team not only qualified for the state championship but also earned the Best in Core Values Award, recognizing their exceptional teamwork and sportsmanship.

At the state competition, the team delivered an exceptional performance, earning a 38th-place ranking in the robotics category out of 360 teams statewide. While they did not advance to the next round, the students gained valuable experience in teamwork, leadership, and problem-solving, and are motivated to return even stronger next year.

— Submitted by Pankhoori Gupta