Skagway’s Lego League team came in 2nd in State Championships this year. They’re headed to Legoland in San Diego this May to compete against other teams from across the nation. These students aren’t just building lego robots—they’re building competency in STEM subjects, strong community values, and problem solving skills. 

The Prickles meet on the stage at the Skagway School. Instrument cases are piled to the ceiling, but the “robot board” has a special place in the corner, tucked behind big black theater curtains.

“We have two minutes to complete the challenges without touching the robot,”Adalia Deach explains. She’s talking about how the robot is judged in a lego league competition. 

“Our robot’s name is Celeste, we named her after a star in our solar system. We like to say she has anxiety because sometimes she doesn’t perform very well in front of other people. Sometimes we say she has arthritis,” Deach said.

Robot anxiety didn’t stop the Prickles from winning second place at the First Lego League state Championship in Anchorage this January. That’s because the robot is only one element of the competition. Teams are also judged on core values—that is, how they play the game—and a problem solving project. This year they had to develop a solution for a problem astronauts face.

The Prickles came up with a tungsten-lined sleeping mask that protects astronauts eyes from cosmic rays. They researched the ill effects of cosmic rays on astronaut health and presented their innovation in a skit. Team Prickles is even talking to ILC Dover, a major manufacturer for the space program, about putting the product into production. This kind of real world problem solving is key to learning.

“I think anytime you can make math or language arts relevant you’re getting at what needs to be done,” says Deborah Riddle, the Alaska Department of Education manager for student learning and standards assessments. She says math and science scores have room for improvement statewide. But a few years ago, budget cuts eliminated specialists in the department.

“In the past we’ve had content specialists. So we had math, english, language arts, and science, she explains. “During the last round of budget cuts those positions were eliminated. Math and language arts were reinstated. Science was not.”

When state resources for math and science dwindle, afterschool programs like First Lego League take on new significance. Lego League’s focus is STEM education, that is, science, technology, engineering and math. The First Lego League competitions reinforce the idea that STEM learning is more than a “nerdy” past time—it’s a path to an interesting and potentially lucrative career. Prickles coach Andy Miller says there’s a Lego League MC at the Anchorage competition who shows students what kind of careers could lie ahead.

“He always brings out some alumni and shows how they are successful. How they’re creating robots that are in projects on the pipeline and people who have launched things into space,” Miller says.

“He has this banner that he rolls out that says nerd is a four letter word with a six digit salary. It’s science; it’s something that could benefit them the rest of their lives.”

Another Skagway Lego League team even takes back the “nerd” moniker and embraces it with their name “The Nerderrific Unicorns.” But the Prickles name is more about team dynamics.

“We came up with the name Prickles on our first season project involving porcupines,” Miller says.

“One of the kids discovered that a prickle is a family of porcupines. They call themselves a family that poke each other and annoy each other. We have our moments and our days, but they always come together and do really well.”

Embracing the prickly process of communication and teamwork is paying off for the Prickles. They’re headed to Nationals this summer and then wherever math, science, and teamwork might take them.