M&M Legends Of Bridgewater Win Engineering Excellence Award in NJ State Championships

BRIDGEWATER, NJ — A community-based robotics team from Bridgewater is marking a successful season after earning the Engineering Excellence Award at the New Jersey FIRST LEGO League (FLL) State Championship.

Competing under the name M&M Legends, the team advanced to the state level following regional qualifying tournaments that included 342 teams from across New Jersey.

Only 80 teams earned an invitation to the state championship, placing M&M Legends among the top-performing teams in the state.

FIRST LEGO League challenges middle school students to combine engineering, programming, and teamwork through robotics and real-world problem solving. One key component of the competition is the Robot Game, where teams design and program an autonomous LEGO robot to complete a series of missions within a limited time window.

In the weeks leading up to the state championship, M&M Legends focused on improving both robot reliability and code efficiency. Their work paid off with a 325-point robot score, achieved by executing multiple missions in a single run. This result represents the highest robot score the team has achieved since its formation two years ago.

Beyond robot performance, teams are evaluated on robot design, an innovation project, and adherence to FIRST Core Values such as collaboration, inclusion, and gracious professionalism.

At the qualifying level, M&M Legends received the Core Values Award, recognizing their teamwork, respect, and positive team culture. At the state championship, the team was further honored with the Engineering Excellence Award, which recognizes a well-rounded team demonstrating strong engineering, innovative thinking, and consistent core values.

The team’s Innovation Project explored archaeology, with students proposing a digital platform to connect community members with experts to help responsibly document and preserve historical artifacts.

Outside of competition, the team demonstrated initiative by creating a community firewood sales station to fund their season, allowing them to operate as a self-supported team while gaining experience in collaboration and accountability. The season also featured peer leadership through a youth mentor model that encouraged learning through experimentation rather than direct instruction.

Coaches say the experience strengthened students’ confidence, technical abilities, and teamwork, and the team is already looking ahead to building on this momentum in future seasons.

— Submitted by Ratul Ahuja