The Jedi Engineers, a FIRST LEGO League team from Eagle Valley Middle School, was awarded the second place Robotics Design in Programming trophy at the International Open Championship in Bath, U.K.
The Jedi Engineers are made up of Ryan Cooley, Cash Farnworth, Bryar Fancher, Emmanuel Alvarez, Nevan McIlwee and Kai Miller. Coaches are Lisa Stocke-Koop, Eric Fancher, and Jason Koop.
The team started practicing the second week of August and just completed its season with a “thank-you” party for sponsors.
The Jedi Engineers competed June 21-25. The competition was held at the University of Bath. The competition consisted of Project Presentation Judging, Robot Technical Design Judging, Core Values Judging and Robot Performance Competition. The team performed extremely well in all areas.
The theme for this year’s competition was Animal Allies, and the teams had to solve a real-world problem that would enhance the relationship/lives of human/animal interactions. The Jedi Engineers came up with a solution to overcrowding in no-kill shelters that they have presented successfully to experts in the animal care and manufacturing businesses prior to competition.
In order to get to the International Championship in Bath and earlier to the World Festival in Houston, the Jedi Engineers had to raise a significant amount of funds. They were able to raise in excess of $35,000 thanks to the support of local businesses and multiple fundraisers. At both of these events, the students competed against 95 or more teams from around the world that encompassed at least 35 countries.
FIRST LEGO League in the United States includes students from ages 9-14. In other countries from around the world, the age limit goes up to 16, so our Carson City middle school students were also competing against high school students!
At the World Festival in Houston, the Jedi Engineers came home with a third place Core Values in Teamwork award.
The Jedi Engineers would like to thank all of their supporters for a historic season.
Lisa A Stocke-Koop
Carson City
