HSers in Our World!--Girl Scouts Win First Lego League Competition in TX

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'Robotic Roadrunners' Win Contest in Texas

By Elaine D. Briseño
Journal Staff Writer
A group of Girl Scouts from Rio Rancho beat out more than two dozen other teams at the weekend's FIRST LEGO League robotics competition in Amarillo, Texas.
The eight-member team, calling itself the Robotic Roadrunners, beat 34 other teams to take first in the research portion of the contest and fourth in the robotic obstacle portion.
Troop co-leader Karen Boulanger said in a phone interview Monday that this was the first time any of the girls had competed in that type of contest. She said her goal was for the girls to just do their best, never even imagining they would finish at the top.
"I'm amazed," Boulanger said. "I can't believe we did as well as we did. We were amazed when we made it to the final 16. Then we made it to the top eight. Then, they called the top four and we were in the top four. It was great."
The girls range in age from 9 to 14. Some are homeschooled, and others attend Rio Rancho Public Schools. The competition was geared toward teams in that age range. Although some are Girl Scouts, others are with school-sponsored teams and had both boys and girls.
The teams had to program a Lego robot to compete on several obstacle courses in a 21/2-minute time frame. They also had to do a research project and a presentation featuring their research.
The theme of this year's projects was Energy Resources: Meeting the Global Demand. The Robotic Roadrunners researched renewable and nonrenewable sources of energy. As part of the project, they were required to feature an energy-saving building in their community. The girls chose the new aquatic center that is being built in Rio Rancho. They met with the architects and took a tour of the site to learn about ways the building will save energy.
They presented their research in the form of a newscast. For the presentation, two girls sat at a table posing as anchors while a computer played "on-location" news reports the girls had recorded.
They had to do their presentation in four minutes, with an additional minute to set up. The girls and their parents were at Maggie Cordova Elementary on Friday morning to do one final run-through.
Rachael Howell, whose daughter, Abi Howell, 9, was in the competition, said at the school Friday that the girls had prepared for about two months. Her daughter is homeschooled and attends Enchanted Hills Family School, which allows homeschooled students to attend school together in the afternoon. She said the hope was to begin exposing the girls to the fields of math and science.
"The hope is that we start them young," she said. "Next year they will understand it better. Hey, maybe the robot will be making dinner for us."
Parent Barbara Lopez, whose daughter Serafina Lopez, 9, is also homeschooled, is a mechanical engineer. She said her daughter has always been interested in engineering and the competition was a good outlet for her.
"This is the foot in the door to get things going," she said. "Robotics competitions are starting to become a big thing in the community."
Boulanger said she's amazed at how well the competition went. She attributes it to the talent, intelligence and hard work of all the girls. She said the three top teams in the robotics portion of the competition were made up mostly of boys.
"When they called first place and it was us, I was so surprised."