“Fantastic experience” at international LEGO League Competition

ATLANTA, GA – A group of elementary students from Jay Middle School won first place at the FIRST LEGO League World Festival Saturday, in a category relating to their presentation on distracted driving.

One of 84 teams from 32 countries, JMS’ “6 Chics and a Dude” took the LEGO-crafted trophy in the Sharing Award, which recognizes the portion of the competition in which the team presented their research project and conclusions to the panel of judges. The team’s project studied distracted driving, utilizing a device rigged with a timer and simulated brake pedal to gauge how using a cellphone impacts reaction times.

6 Chics and a Dude includes students Sydney Bishop, Brittany Carrier, Kendra Peart, Alexa Perkins, Emily Taylor, Erik Taylor, Alyssa Timberlake , Coach Dan Latham and Coach Rob Taylor, who is the Gifted and Talented program teacher at Jay School Department.

Rob Taylor said Monday that the level of the competition at the event made the Jay students’ award all the more amazing. One team, from Columbia, Ohio, designed a biofuel distilled from fruit. Another designed a fluid they call Insta-gas, a fuel-substitute that they’re planning on getting patented.

“When you look at the level of expertise,” Taylor said, “the fact the kids came back with an award is even more prestigious.”

The Sharing Award takes both the presentation to judges and prior presentations to the teams’ communities into account.

The team had plenty of practice making their presentation locally. They had presented the project to several local organizations and public figures, most notably to Governor John Baldacci, who received drafts of legislation the students had written. These proposals included improving Maine’s existing distracted driving law by making distracted driving violations that result in death or serious injury criminal violations and a ban on texting while driving.

The project is dedicated to Linda Latham, a Jay woman killed by a distracted driver who was using a laptop while driving. Their project has included the production of a commercial, highlighting the dangers of distracted driving, a radio public safety announcement podcast, and letters to the editors in local papers.

Taylor said that the experience of attending the World Festival, held at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, would have been worth the trip even without the award. The students met teams from a number of states and other countries. 6 Chics and a Dude participated in an “alliance activity,” designed to allow the students to meet their counterparts from other places, with Israeli students. 

According to Taylor, by the end of the activity, the Jay students were learning Israeli folk dances, singing songs and trading email addresses.

“It truly is a world festival,” Taylor said.

The team earned a place at the event in December 2009 at the State LEGO League event, one of three teams from Jay. 6 Chics and a Dude took first place in the Champions Award category, which grades the team both on the presentation portion and the robotics portion, which utilizes the LEGO kits from which the event gets its name.

This second element involves sending a miniature LEGO robot on a series of missions, including tests of power, speed, precision and finesse. Some of the missions included transporting a load of little LEGO people, moving another small vehicle, navigating the course, including a bridge, and lifting a series of small hoops while threading through rows of walls. Competition in this portion of the festival was stiff; the Jay students scored a 290, in the same general range as the 320 that helped win at the state-wide event, but five teams scored perfect 400s. 

The judges also rate the teams on “teamwork.” The Jay students were taken into a room and handed a drinking straw. In the room was an assortment of balls, ranging from cotton wads to sports equipment, and a table with a hole punched through it. The students were told they had two minutes to get the balls through the hole.

After completing the task, just at the two minute mark, the judges gave the team some time to discuss their effort and develop a plan. They then were told to repeat the task, shaving 38 seconds off of their original time.

“They really got a chance to function as a team,” Taylor said.

This was the fifth year Jay teams have competed in the statewide event, and the second time a Jay team won the competition and traveled to the World Festival. The students collected donations and raised the funds for the trip themselves.

Taylor said his students, and the coaches and other travelers, would be taking a few days to decompress. However, other projects beckon in the coming weeks; construction of a geodesic dome greenhouse, designed by Dustin Jones and Erik Taylor, students with JMS’ Gifted and Talented program, is expected to begin in June.