GSNC LEGO ROBOTICS ROCK!!! by Guest Blogger, Joyce Wagner

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On Sunday, February 28th five of our Girl Scouts of Nassau County First LEGO teams participated in the Long Island Regional FLL Tournament in Longwood NY – and they certainly did us proud!!!! It was a wonderful experience to see the teamwork they exhibited, the confidence – and competence – with which they dealt with glitches in their robots’ performances and the support they received from our adult volunteer coaches and mentors. The girls interacted with (and were evaluated by) judges in five different categories and still had tons of energy to enjoy dancing to the DJ that played throughout the day! They networked with other teams (41 teams competed), looked for ideas for next year, and reconnected with teams they met at previous tournaments. Check out the awards we received:

Robot Performance Award: the team whose robot achieves the highest score from a single round on the competition field.
  • Second Place went to Lego Chicks (Mary Madigan & Ed Sottile with girls from St. Ignatius in Hicksville)
Project: Research Quality, Innovative Solution and Creative Presentation: FLL presents the project awards to the teams whose quality research, innovative solutions and creative presentation best reflect an in-depth understanding of the various scientific disciplines and issues involved with the Challenge project. There is only one award given for each of the three categories.
  • Project: Research Quality went to The Ice Breakers (Steve & Diane Kitchener with girls from Merrick, Hardscrabble and Baldwin)
  • Project: Creative Presentation went to Catastrophic Moves (Eileen Marando & Constance Conroy with girls from Bellmore, Seaford/Wantagh and Farmingdale)
Gracious Professionalism: Gracious Professionalism is a way of doing things that encourages high quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community. This team demonstrated that their members can learn and compete, but still treat one another with respect and kindness in the process. Only one award is given.
  • Gracious Professionalism Award went to The LEGO Starz (Jackie Covington, Denine Williams, Erick Williams with girls from Baldwin)
While the fifth Girl Scout team, LEGOTRONETTES (Michelle Iannuzzo, Paul Iannuzzo, Jim Colwell with girls from Hicksville meeting at Lee Avenue) that competed did not win one of the special awards, we are very proud of their performance as well. The team was in sixth place in the performance part of the tournament. They cheered on the other teams and, as one of our newer teams, learned a lot and will come back ready for action next year!

A sixth team, X Factor (Paula Davy and Judaea Yarde Lane with girls from Westbury), competed in the qualifier tournament earlier in the month, and we commend them for their teamwork and effort – and know they’ll come back next year with new ideas for improving their robot and presentations. And we are sure our four other teams, who didn’t feel quite ready to enter the tournaments this year, will be ready for action next year!

We are so very thankful for the enthusiasm of the girls, the volunteers who served as mentors and coaches for the teams and the support from our parents! Most of our coaches also lead ongoing Girl Scout Troops, or help with their daughter’s troop in another way, and have received support from many staff throughout their volunteer experience. So, a pat on the back for all who touch the lives of our girls, volunteers and parents!

To see more photos, be sure to visit our Flickr page! Click Here!

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