Achievements and Outreach
World Championship Press Release!
FIRST LEGO League team #29 - Caught In A Brainstorm competed at the FIRST Robotics World Championship in St. Louis, MO from April 22-25. The 4 day event was held in the Edward Jones Dome and the adjoining Convention Center. Over 18,000 participants representing 40 countries competed in 4 different robotics categories.
In FIRST LEGO League, teams are judged in 3 main areas. The first is a research project and presentation centered around this year’s challenge “How can we improve the way ______ learns about ______?’. Second, teams are judged on their robot design and programming, as well as how many points they can consistently score in the robot challenge. Third, teams are evaluated on the FIRST Core values of teamwork, “coopertition”, and gracious professionalism.
Caught In A Brainstorm earned third place for Creative Presentation for their research project, which addresses “How can we improve the way that girls learn positive self image?”. They presented their research into this topic and solution in the form of a slam poem. The first and second place teams were from Brazil and Turkey respectively.
Based on the strength and impact of their presentation, the team was one of three teams selected for individual video recording as an example of effective presentation of information. They were invited by FIRST to present their research project along with five other teams as part of an Encore Ceremony for all 105 teams and spectators on Saturday. The other teams were from Nova Scotia, Brazil, New York, Turkey, and Australia.
During the week, Caught in a Brainstorm met with key corporate sponsors of the event along with a 3-star Air Force General who happened to be a keynote speaker at the opening ceremonies. Lt. General Brooks Bash took the stage with an audience of over 40,000 people and said “I’ve seen many fine Robotics teams here today, but I’d especially like to mention FLL #29 Caught in a Brainstorm”!
Team members are Anna Marie Mitchell, Selina Woo, Lauren Snyder, Mikaela Harkema, and Olivia Stoa, all 8th grade students at Century Middle School in Lakeville, MN. The team is coached by Maureen Carrigan. The team raised over $7,000 in less than three months to fund their trip, equipment, and pit supplies. A special thanks goes out to the sponsors, as well as to supporters that sent encouragement via social media during the event! A very special thank you goes to Mrs. Hillier, 8th grade teacher and Mrs. Simonton, CMS school counselor for encouraging and helping the team to establish their research project solution: Confidence Building Girls Groups that meet once a week during lunch. At the World Championship, coaches from other states and countries spoke to the team about how to implement the groups in their own school districts.
The team had an incredible, unforgettable experience and represented Century Middle School and Lakeville, MN well!
FIRST LEGO League team #29 - Caught In A Brainstorm competed at the FIRST Robotics World Championship in St. Louis, MO from April 22-25. The 4 day event was held in the Edward Jones Dome and the adjoining Convention Center. Over 18,000 participants representing 40 countries competed in 4 different robotics categories.
In FIRST LEGO League, teams are judged in 3 main areas. The first is a research project and presentation centered around this year’s challenge “How can we improve the way ______ learns about ______?’. Second, teams are judged on their robot design and programming, as well as how many points they can consistently score in the robot challenge. Third, teams are evaluated on the FIRST Core values of teamwork, “coopertition”, and gracious professionalism.
Caught In A Brainstorm earned third place for Creative Presentation for their research project, which addresses “How can we improve the way that girls learn positive self image?”. They presented their research into this topic and solution in the form of a slam poem. The first and second place teams were from Brazil and Turkey respectively.
Based on the strength and impact of their presentation, the team was one of three teams selected for individual video recording as an example of effective presentation of information. They were invited by FIRST to present their research project along with five other teams as part of an Encore Ceremony for all 105 teams and spectators on Saturday. The other teams were from Nova Scotia, Brazil, New York, Turkey, and Australia.
During the week, Caught in a Brainstorm met with key corporate sponsors of the event along with a 3-star Air Force General who happened to be a keynote speaker at the opening ceremonies. Lt. General Brooks Bash took the stage with an audience of over 40,000 people and said “I’ve seen many fine Robotics teams here today, but I’d especially like to mention FLL #29 Caught in a Brainstorm”!
Team members are Anna Marie Mitchell, Selina Woo, Lauren Snyder, Mikaela Harkema, and Olivia Stoa, all 8th grade students at Century Middle School in Lakeville, MN. The team is coached by Maureen Carrigan. The team raised over $7,000 in less than three months to fund their trip, equipment, and pit supplies. A special thanks goes out to the sponsors, as well as to supporters that sent encouragement via social media during the event! A very special thank you goes to Mrs. Hillier, 8th grade teacher and Mrs. Simonton, CMS school counselor for encouraging and helping the team to establish their research project solution: Confidence Building Girls Groups that meet once a week during lunch. At the World Championship, coaches from other states and countries spoke to the team about how to implement the groups in their own school districts.
The team had an incredible, unforgettable experience and represented Century Middle School and Lakeville, MN well!
NEXT YEAR!
Caught in a Brainstorm will age out of FLL next year. Even though our team itself will disband, we want to help other teams within our community. We already have nine FLL teams that we plan to mentor in the 2015-16 season, as well as several people who would like help starting, coaching, and getting their kids involved on a team. Another big goal of ours next year is to start a Robotics booster club for Lakeville, MN to help encourage and support FIRST Robotics teams throughout the community, just like an athletics booster club would.
Caught in a Brainstorm will age out of FLL next year. Even though our team itself will disband, we want to help other teams within our community. We already have nine FLL teams that we plan to mentor in the 2015-16 season, as well as several people who would like help starting, coaching, and getting their kids involved on a team. Another big goal of ours next year is to start a Robotics booster club for Lakeville, MN to help encourage and support FIRST Robotics teams throughout the community, just like an athletics booster club would.
Demoing at the Works Museum - April 11, 2015
In April, we had the opportunity to demo our robot at the Works Museum in Bloomington, Minnesota as part of Robot Week. There, we ran our missions and talked to people ages 3 - 73 about FLL, High Tech Kids, code, EV3, and how to start and run a FLL team.
In April, we had the opportunity to demo our robot at the Works Museum in Bloomington, Minnesota as part of Robot Week. There, we ran our missions and talked to people ages 3 - 73 about FLL, High Tech Kids, code, EV3, and how to start and run a FLL team.
Prepping for Worlds - It's a Club!
In part of implementing our solution (Confidence building small groups for girls within our school to answer the question "How can we improve the way girls learn about positive self image?"), we created two pilot groups of girls in our grade that met once a week with 8th grade english teacher, Mrs. Hillier. The groups were a fun experience for everyone involved, and several group members, and Mrs. Hillier, expressed an interest in continuing the groups after Worlds. In order to do this, Selina and Lauren worked with school administrators to make our Confidence Building Girls Group and official club of Century Middle School with flyers posted around the building, a sign-up website, and even a slide in the TV announcements!
In part of implementing our solution (Confidence building small groups for girls within our school to answer the question "How can we improve the way girls learn about positive self image?"), we created two pilot groups of girls in our grade that met once a week with 8th grade english teacher, Mrs. Hillier. The groups were a fun experience for everyone involved, and several group members, and Mrs. Hillier, expressed an interest in continuing the groups after Worlds. In order to do this, Selina and Lauren worked with school administrators to make our Confidence Building Girls Group and official club of Century Middle School with flyers posted around the building, a sign-up website, and even a slide in the TV announcements!
Prepping for Worlds - March 2015
Caught in a Brainstorm had the unique opportunity to meet the Mayor of Lakeville, Minnesota, Matt Little, and tell him all about FIRST LEGO League, FIRST Ladies, and our team. We're proud to be able to represent Lakeville at the World Championship.
Caught in a Brainstorm had the unique opportunity to meet the Mayor of Lakeville, Minnesota, Matt Little, and tell him all about FIRST LEGO League, FIRST Ladies, and our team. We're proud to be able to represent Lakeville at the World Championship.
World Class Education State Tournament - February 2015:
Caught in a Brainstorm competed in the MN FLL State Tournament on Feb, 7th, 2015. At the State Championship,
Caught in a Brainstorm competed in the MN FLL State Tournament on Feb, 7th, 2015. At the State Championship,
- we were awarded a Champions trophy for finishing in 2nd place overall in MN, out of 621 teams, 73 of which made it to the state tournament
- we won 1st place in Creative Presentation for our research project presentation
- we won 2nd place in Core Values
- we placed in the top 7 in the state in Programming
- we placed in the top 7 in the state in Quality of Research
- we finished in 9th place in the robot game.
Prepping for State - January 2015
While getting ready to compete at the state tournament, Caught in a Brainstorm presented their research project to all the girls in the school the team members attend, Century Middle School in Lakeville, MN - about 450 sixth, seventh, and eighth grade girls. Along with their research project, Caught in a Brainstorm also told the girls all about their experiences in FIRST, how to get involved in FIRST Robotics, about FLL specifically, and about what it means to the team members to be a girl in STEM. The 6th, 7th, and 8th grade girls at Century Middle School are split up into six different lunch/homeroom times, so Caught in a Brainstorm presented six different times, for about 30 min each time. After presenting, Caught in a Brainstorm team members heard girls in the hallways saying thing like "should you start the robotics team, or should I?"
While getting ready to compete at the state tournament, Caught in a Brainstorm presented their research project to all the girls in the school the team members attend, Century Middle School in Lakeville, MN - about 450 sixth, seventh, and eighth grade girls. Along with their research project, Caught in a Brainstorm also told the girls all about their experiences in FIRST, how to get involved in FIRST Robotics, about FLL specifically, and about what it means to the team members to be a girl in STEM. The 6th, 7th, and 8th grade girls at Century Middle School are split up into six different lunch/homeroom times, so Caught in a Brainstorm presented six different times, for about 30 min each time. After presenting, Caught in a Brainstorm team members heard girls in the hallways saying thing like "should you start the robotics team, or should I?"
World Class Education Regional Tournament - December 2014:
Caught in a Brainstorm competed in their regional tournament on December 14, 2014 in St. Paul, Minnesota. At the regional tournament,
|
Mentorship: Spring 2015 and the 2014-15 Season
From September through January, Caught in a Brainstorm mentored the two Oak Hills Elementary School Ignite! teams: #3590 MyBlock Monkeys, and #3591 Brain Surge . The girls helped the fourth and fifth graders design and build their robots and attachments, understand and create line followers and MyBlocks, and develop mission strategies. Caught in a Brainstorm was excited to see team #3591, Brain Surge, advance to the MN State Tournament!
From September through January, Caught in a Brainstorm mentored the two Oak Hills Elementary School Ignite! teams: #3590 MyBlock Monkeys, and #3591 Brain Surge . The girls helped the fourth and fifth graders design and build their robots and attachments, understand and create line followers and MyBlocks, and develop mission strategies. Caught in a Brainstorm was excited to see team #3591, Brain Surge, advance to the MN State Tournament!
Caught in a Brainstorm also volunteered in Spring of 2014 to mentor students in the after school robotics program at Oak Hills Elementary School. We got to help 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders build robots and learn how to program them.
Summer 2014
Caught in a Brainstorm was invited by High Tech Kids to volunteer at the Science Museum of Minnesota's Youth and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) Day. There, we demonstrated last year's robot game and the FIRST core values to elementary-school children. We also built a couple of additional robots so that participants would have a chance to "run" the robots on the table. We had a great time talking to younger kids about FIRST, robots, research, and teamwork! Caught in a Brainstorm was also invited by High Tech Kids to volunteer during the Teens eXperiencing Tech camp, held at Dakota County Technical College. There, Caught in a Brainstorm talked to groups of 5th to 8th grade girls about FIRST, FLL, and the team's experience in the 2013-14 season. We demonstrated portions of the Nature's Fury robot game, talked about our Nature's Fury research project solution, and conducted Core Values activities with the campers. We had a great time! |
Nature's Fury State Tournament - February 2014:
Caught in a Brainstorm competed in the MN FLL State tournament on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2014. We had a great time! At the state tournament,
Caught in a Brainstorm competed in the MN FLL State tournament on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2014. We had a great time! At the state tournament,
- we finished 9th overall in the state out of 66 teams competing at the state tournament and 555 total FLL teams in MN this year!
- we won 2nd place in the state for Creative Presentation
- we won one of four special Judges Awards
- we placed in the top 7 in the state in Programming
- we placed in the top 7 in the state in Quality of Research
Nature's Fury Regional Tournament - December 2013:
Caught in a Brainstorm competed in their very first regional tournament on December 8th, 2013. At the regional tournament,
Caught in a Brainstorm competed in their very first regional tournament on December 8th, 2013. At the regional tournament,
- we won 1st place in the Research Project
- we won 1st place in Programming
- we won 2nd place in Core Values (teamwork)
- we won 3rd place in Robot Design