FLL – FIRST LEGO™ League
FLL Mentoring:
An initiative we started within the team when we wanted to engage youths more with STEM and create a passion for technology and innovation. Reaching out to team members, we asked if they had siblings who would be interested in participating in a First Lego League Team. Ultimately, there were 4 team members, who spent 10 meetings working on designing a robot, coding it, and completing challenges. Starting from scratch, our team members mentored them on code and robot design. Although they started late and did not have the same amount of time as other teams, they still came in third place in the competition.
Dragons:
An initiative we started within the team when we wanted to engage youths more with STEM and create a passion for technology and innovation. Reaching out to team members, we asked if they had siblings who would be interested in participating in a First Lego League Team. Ultimately, there were 4 team members, who spent 10 meetings working on designing a robot, coding it, and completing challenges. Starting from scratch, our team members mentored them on code and robot design. Although they started late and did not have the same amount of time as other teams, they still came in third place in the competition.
Bellevue:
Another initiative to further STEM in the community by teaching elementary students about robotics! Our FLL team travels to Bellevue Elementary twice a week to expose fifth graders to the wonderful world of STEM, which we do with lego robotics. Legoes serve as an easy gateway that endlessly engages the kids and sparks a passion for engineering within them.
Our Tournament
We facilitate the official FIRST LEGO League Challenge where local teams compete in regional tournaments. Each year, MLWGS serves as the host site for the largest and longest running First Lego League Tournament in Central Virginia. Judges provide valuable feedback on each FLL team’s robot, code, and invention. The Robot Game table is the final test to see how they race against time for a personal best score and the chance to advance to a local championship.
Planning: FLL events are entirely volunteer led and run by the MLWGS 422 team, leadership, and First Officials. Our FLL manager gathers volunteers, judges, handles team registration, etc. All aspects of the tournament are accounted for beforehand
Execution: Our leadership and volunteers work year-round to ensure that each tournament is better than the last. Our team meets multiple times each week to plan, increase our outreach, and train new members.
Offseason Tournament
In March of 2022 we held our first off season FLL Tournament welcoming local teams to practice for the official annual event in November.
Mech Tech Dragons 