LEGO qualifier an arena of moving parts for students, volunteers

Northern Nevada’s students set out to make their Lego robots attach a little longer and drive a little farther Saturday as Eagle Valley Middle School hosted the region’s FIRST LEGO League Qualifier.

More than 400 students representing 31 teams from Carson City, Lyon County, Reno and Lake Tahoe brought their best efforts in Lego design and robotics to share with judges how they would code and problem-solve for the future in a culmination of challenges and projects they brought to the competition.

“Really the object behind it is the technology and coding and mechanical design and the engineering, but the other part is to be problem-solvers,” Caroline Hanson said.

The qualifier, based on the theme “Masterpiece,” inspired students to use their science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) skills to solve problems and interpret questions freely with resilience, she said, and it often involves exploring what happens in improving on their own work.

“That’s part of it is observing,” she said. “One of the questions that’s sometimes asked in a session is, ‘What do you do when things go wrong?’ And all kind of things go wrong – they forget to charge their robot, they forget to charge the laptop, they delete code and forget about it.”

The LEGO League encourages students to explore concepts and core values including teamwork, innovation, discovery, inclusion, impact and fun, Hanson said, and it helps them build confidence in their presentation skills to judges. Many students never have had to make a major presentation to community members about a design they’ve come up with on something unique about their Lego robot or concept.

“They are the future,” she said. “You talk to these teams, and you forget about all the noise and the other news that shows up on your phone, and you end up seeing what this generation is capable of dreaming and thinking about what they’re working on.”

The event brings together dozens of volunteers, including judges, referees, coaches, setup assistants and students, including cadets from Carson High School’s Naval Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, to run everything throughout the day.

“It’s a pretty complicated day,” Hanson said. “We have a lot of moving pieces.”

Hanson, a retired educator, works part-time for the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada as a regional coordinator supporting robotics in schools.

“We want everybody having the fun of playing with robots in school,” she said. “Some don’t think they’d like STEM, but you put them in front of a LEGO robot and let them play, and they decide that’s really interesting.”