2023-2024 FLL Challenge
Lights, camera, STEAM!
In the 2023-24 MASTERPIECE℠ season, FLL is shining a spotlight on the role that STEM plays in the arts and empowering young people to bring their ideas to life. Together with art, science, technology, engineering, and math inspire big ideas, bold action – and creativity. Teams will use their imaginations to rethink the world of the arts as they build and program robots to accomplish challenging missions and innovate new ways to create art and experiences that can bring people together, entertain, and inspire.
The four teams that advanced to STATE did very well with three of the teams winning rewards. Once again CFSD teams rock!
- The Escape Artists won the Engineering Excellence Award.
- The Light Benders took home the Breakthrough Award.
- Picture This! took the Robot Design Award, 2nd place.
- Rockin Robots placed 9th in the Robot Game.
Congrats to all the team members, coaches and mentors for a fantastic season!
CFSD had 8 FLL teams with elementary and middle school students participate in the very difficult 2023-24 FLL "Masterpiece" season challenge and compete in the Tucson Regional FLL tournament on Saturday, Dec. 3rd. Congratulations to all the students who worked hard to prepare for the competition and to the teams that won awards and are advancing to the state tournament in January.
- Jackson Smith
- Otis Newheim
- Marios Savva
- Summer Streicher
- Evertt Olson
- Gabe Levin
- Max Tritz
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Tournament Champions - This award celebrates a team that embodies the FIRST ® LEGO® League Challenge experience, by fully embracing our Core Values while achieving excellence and innovation in Robot Performance, Robot Design and the Innovation Project.
Team 5158 Escape Artists - For their innovation project, the team used a Vernier force and acceleration sensor and Makey-Makey to program an interactive Scratch game called "Escape from Boredom" as a way to share their common interest in gaming and their individual hobbies: cooking, hockey and music. Advancing to the State Tournament. Coach/Mentors: Charlotte Ackerman, Nancy Hsiao, Henry Bonomolo
- Sebastian Bonomolo
- Lucas Byrne
- Noah Chavez
- Luke Danilowitz
- Graham Martin
- Brendan Sult
- Cillian Walsh
Robot Design Award - This team uses outstanding programming principles and solid engineering practices to develop a robot that is mechanically sound, durable, efficient and highly capable of performing challenge missions.
Team 5156 Light Benders - Advancing to the State Tournament. Coach/Mentors: Charlotte Ackerman, Nancy Hsiao
- Madison Chiem
- Audrey Dessent
- Reed Maskell
- Warren Moore
- Sarah Orr
- Lucas Rodriquez
- Niko Sawatzki
- Jolie Wung
Innovation Project Award - This team utilizes diverse resources for their Innovation Project to help them gain a comprehensive understanding of their problem, have a creative, well-researched solution and effectively communicate their findings to judges and the community.
Team 5155 Picture This! - The team used a 360 degree camera, mounted on a LEGO train to film a complete LEGO city from the perspective of a LEGO minifigure and create an immersive virtual reality experience. The video allows viewers to look up, down and all around at the city as if actually being in it. Filming their LEGO creations in this way preserves them for a future in which they will taken apart. Coaches/Mentors: Charlotte Ackerman, Nancy Hsiao
- Sophia Barrios
- Ella Halvorsen
- Ali Lucas
- Archer Matika
- Lily Ruiz
- Michael Stefano
- Gigi Trombetta
Robot Performance Award - This award celebrates a team that scores the most points during the Robot Game. Teams have a chance to compete in at least three 2.5-minute matches and their highest score counts.
Core Value Award - This team displays extraordinary enthusiasm and spirit, knows they can accomplish more together than they could as individuals, and shows each other and other teams respect at all times.
Team 5152 Rockin Robots! - Advancing to the State Tournament Coaches/Mentors: Noah Mickey-Colman, Maura Baker, Kathryn Varden, Buddy George
- Beckett Latcham
- Colin Wilhelm
- Liam Wilhelm
- Jacob Colman
- Blake Brasfield
- Landry Henderson
- Brooke Miller
Breakthrough Award - This award celebrates a team that made significant progress in their confidence and capability in both the Robot Game and Innovation Project and are a shining example of excellent Core Values. They demonstrate that they understand that what they discover is more important than what they win.
Team 5153 Virtual Creators - Coaches/Mentors: Noah Mickey-Colman, Maura Baker, Kathryn Varden, Buddy George
- Grace Baum
- Kaeli Greer
- Connor Flaherty
- Andrew Krokmahl
- Cyrus Landish
- Noah Perkins
- Annabelle Norvilus
- Naveed Kyricaou
Team 5151 Yearbots - Coaches/Mentors: Charlotte Ackerman, Nancy Hsiao, Henry Bonomolo
- Diego Fatas-Belous
- Alexis Hammer
- John Hanna
- Max Hao
- Dylan Pan
- Lucy Velasco
- Yihan Yang
Team 10906 Matchbooks - Coaches/Mentors: Charlotte Ackerman, Nancy Hsiao, Seth Rojas
- Zenji Ashton
- Emily Fink
- Emery Halvorsen
- Damon Hayden
- Turner Jason
- Josephine Lowrie
- Logan MacDonald
- Elise Peterson
Team 27725 Master Peace - Coaches/Mentors: Kelly Taylor, Poppy Oppenheim
What is FIRST Lego League
FIRST Lego League (FLL) introduces young people (grades 4-8), to the fun and excitement of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). It is designed for students do the research and problem solving, which are integral parts of each element of STEM, to meet the yearly Challenge. Students identify a problem and develop an innovative solution.
There are three elements that make up the Challenge: 1. programming an autonomous robot (the Robot Game), 2. creating innovative solutions to a problem (the Project) 3. following the FLL Core Values where the children learn that helping one another and the spirit of friendly competition is the foundation of teamwork.
Each year’s Challenge is similar to real challenges faced by scientists and engineers, which leads to an understanding of the work of these professionals and an exposure to career options. The Project gives the teams the opportunity to more deeply explore the theme of the Challenge and propose a solution to a problem they select.
The teams present their projects for feedback from the judges, who often are experts in the Challenge field. FIRST Lego League imparts valuable life skills and excitement about how our students can make a difference in the world.
FIRST Lego League in CFSD
In Catalina Foothills School District, students who participate in FIRST Lego League (FLL) are afforded unique experiences involving a team approach to engineering, programming, problem solving, and research. FLL equips students with tools to be successful in a rapidly-evolving world. FLL presents students with real-world situations and challenges in which they develop their abilities to think critically, apply knowledge at high levels and use technology to access, evaluate and communicate information.
Led by Charlotte Ackerman, CFSD’s Teacher Leader for Science and Engineering, FLL team members work together over a 14-week session to address the current FLL mission and prepare for competition in December.
FIRST Lego League Lite
In the spring months, students who have an interest in participating as an FLL team member in the following school year are encouraged to join FLL Lite. This enrichment experience gives students the opportunity to get a taste of FLL without making the commitment to the full 14-week program. They get to try the current school year’s FLL mission and build their skills for future competitions without actually stepping into the arena of competing.