The Haines Lego League is gearing up for their first competition of the season. Coach Patty Brown took the team across the canal last weekend for a scrimmage with Skagway’s medal winning team. This week they’re back to practice their new skills.
A group of five boys gathers around a table in the Haines library. The table top is a game board printed with a star-dazzled deep space scene and strewn with lego robots. But this isn’t child’s play.
“We’re supposed to pre-program the robot with a whole bunch of attachments on the motors and sensors,” said Nate White. He’s 11 years old, but sounds like a collegiate engineering student. This is Lego League, an international program to promote STEM education and core values that include innovation, ingenuity and teamwork.
Their team name is The Redneck Robohobos of Haines. Patty Brown is the coach.
“First lego league is a big international project actually developed by the fellow who developed the segway scooter man years ago. And he said, ‘You know, who said we gotta be growing up engineers in our country. So that we can capitalize on all the clever ideas and innovations that make the world better,” she said.
The former science teacher took the team to Skagway to collaborate with their award winning coaches and teams. Brown planned the trip so the kids could work together, but says it was also an opportunity for her to learn from the Skagway coach.
“He showed me how to guide them without doing the thinking for them,” she said. “And to apply certain principles, and frankly how to rack up the points.”
Greg Clem has over a decade of experience coaching the Lego League. He took teams to national and international competitions during his tenure as coach.
“It’s a lot of learning. It definitely takes multiple years to get into the place to compete in the higher levels,” he said.
Clem says remote communities like Haines and Skagway benefit from the collaboration… even if it takes some extra effort to connect. “I’ve worked with the Haines team several times, both skyping and little scrimmages. It’s a big help for both teams,” he said.
Maddox Rogers of the Haines team also thought the collaboration was constructive: “It was really good! We got to see the two teams. The Nerderific Unicorns and also the Prickles.”
At today’s meeting, Rogers is preparing the problem solving component of the competition. His group is working on a wheelchair that rehabilitates astronauts after lengthy stays in space. Programming robots and solving problems like bone density loss in astronauts may seem like a heavy lift for a group of elementary school students. Rogers says its manageable.
“It seems like that until you get through your first one or two days, but then you get used to everything pretty fast. And just there you are you’ve got most of the things you need and you’re ready to start programming , building, or projecting core values.” Rogers likes the problem solving but he stays for the camaraderie.
“Teamwork. It defnitely brings people together its a sport-like thing that isn’t too competitive,” he said. “We aren’t fighting each other, we’re just fighting to see how good we can do.”
And then he runs back to what looks like a group of boys playing with Legos.
The team is gearing up for a competition in Juneau this December. Keep an eye out for the Lego League selling raffle tickets around town.
