FLL take Innovation Award Cup at Nationals!

By Bev Bell | Posted: Monday December 2, 2024

At 4am on Saturday morning, while most everyone was sound asleep, four of our students were stumbling out of bed to catch an early flight to Auckland to represent the school at the National First Lego League (FLL) competition.

Despite this early hour, Isla, Amelia, Elizabeth and Connor were all full of enthusiasm and energy around the task ahead. 

They were so excited a few weeks back when their team, Da Monstas, was called out at Regionals to qualify for the National Competition, and they had been quietly working away since then to ensure they were ready for the big stage. 

Things didn’t start well on Saturday when one of the suitcases of gear they needed didn’t arrive on their flight and had, in fact, been placed on the next flight. Fortunately this sort of set back is not enough to phase the team and they forged ahead with what they had.  They worked through two practice runs before the suitcase of gear finally arrived and still managed good runs.

First Lego League involves a research project presented to an interview panel, completing missions with a robot they have built and coded, and demonstrating the FLL values of Discovery, Innovation, Impact, Inclusion, Teamwork, and Fun!

I’m pleased to say that our team was wonderful at displaying these values, to the point where, during their mission runs, the MC commented numerous times at the enthusiasm, energy and gracious professionalism of the team. 

Throughout a mission run the robot will, at times, go off course or not quite carry out what it was coded to do. It was here where the MC was most impressed at the way our team behaved by not getting down about it but still encouraging one another and persevering to ensure they achieved all they could in each mission run. 

Over the course of the morning, the team improved their score with each run they did, and in the afternoon scored their highest yet in the first competition round. Their research presentation went well and the judges were impressed and even more so when they shared that since qualifying for Nationals they had been determinedly working by themselves to achieve all they had as their coach had moved on to another job and was no longer there to support them. 

This was the first time a team from Casebrook had made it to the Nationals and this, coupled with the fact that the team’s coach wasn’t there to help them prepare in the proceeding weeks, meant that what they achieved was truly impressive and it was wonderful to see their perseverance and continual improvement throughout the tournament as they learnt from each session to be better for the next. 

It was an exciting atmosphere with teams from all over the country and lots of energy and noise. How our team was still going strong at 3:30 in the afternoon after being up at 4am was a real credit to them. 

On Day 2 there were two more mission rounds. The first one didn’t go so well, so with some good discussion and work on the practice table they changed their plan of attack for their third and final competition round. It ended up being a wise move as their last round was the best of all and a great way to finish the tournament. 

Shortly after, they had the prize giving and it was an exciting atmosphere waiting in anticipation, looking up at all of the trophies adorning the table on the stage. The most exciting part was when they announced the winner of the Innovation Project Award. There was a runner up trophy and then the overall winner was announced as Da Monstas! Much excitement ensued as our team proudly took the stage and accepted their trophy. 

Being the best team in New Zealand with their innovation project is one massive achievement, but what was the icing on top was the way the organisers and volunteers spoke of the team. The MC told us he had been telling everyone about how enthusiastic and good-natured the team was during the competition rounds and how they celebrated their successes but even when something didn’t go right they just accepted it, laughed, encouraged each other and kept going. One of the people running the practice tables found us just before we left and said she had been looking for us to say how wonderful the team was with their perseverance and friendly nature and how happy and kind the team was. 

A massive congratulations to Isla, Amelia, Elizabeth, and Connor. You have done our school proud and we are so excited about what you have achieved by representing Te Kura Mareko in becoming National Champions. Not only did you achieve that, but you did it while being so nice!  Well done and we look forward to next year's competitions!

Written by Mr Simon Mutch.

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