SUBMERGED!
The Ocean is More Than What You Can See on The Horizon.
FIRST Lego League Tucson Regional Tournament
All eight CFSD teams performed exceptionally well, with six teams advancing to The Arizona FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Challenge State Championship, scheduled for January 18, 2025, at Arizona State University's Memorial Union in Tempe, Arizona.
CFSD Teams Advancing to State
Champions Award – Team 5155 Reef Rangers
The Champions Award honors a team that excels in all aspects of the competition, embracing Core Values while demonstrating innovation and excellence in their Robot Game, Robot Design, and Innovation Project.
Engineering Excellence Award – Team 5158 Partners for Life
This award celebrates a team with an efficiently designed robot, an innovative project, and outstanding Core Values.
Breakthrough Award – Team 5151 Marine Micro Masters
Awarded to a team that made significant progress in their confidence and capability in both the Robot Game and Innovation Project while embracing Core Values.
Motivate Award – Team 5153 Illuminators
Recognizes a team that embraces the culture of FLL through team spirit, enthusiasm, and collaboration.
Innovation Project Award – Team 5152 Barbaric Blooms
Celebrates a team with a creative, well-researched solution to the season’s challenge, effectively communicated to judges and the community.
Core Values Award – Team 5154 Tellers of the Propellors
Honors a team that demonstrates extraordinary enthusiasm, teamwork, and respect.
These CFSD teams, while not heading to state, performed well in the robot game.
2nd Place Robot Performance: Team 5156
5th Place Robot Performance: Team 27725 Foramula 1
CFSD coaches include: Charlotte Ackerman, Noah Mickey-Colman, Maura Baker, Tiffany Wiley, Nancy Hsiao, and Paul "Poppy" Oppenheim. Parent coaches include Buddy George, Catherine Welton, Frank Iatarola, Aaron Martin, Robert Byrne, Robin Byrne, Leslie Sult, Kai Chen, and Justine Annucci Bonomolo. Thank you to all!
Special highlight was Christian Pierson, who received the Outstanding Mentor Award, nominated by the teams he worked with throughout the season.
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.