Sledgehammers Qualify For State Lego Robotics Competition

Rolling Hills 4-H club recently battled 29 other teams in a regional Lego robotics competition. 

The competition, sponsored by First Lego League, is an international program that is estimated to have
nearly 240,000 kids compete in 80 different countries.

The local team consisted of St. Edward students Roy Cumming, Jordan Maxfield, Brandon Merrell, Dustin Andreasen, Julianna Maxfield, Jean Cumming, and Josiah Ketelsen and coaches Brian Andreasen, Jason Maxfield and Dave Merrell.

Over the last few months the team prepared and worked on many skills in order to compete at the regional that was held at Shell Creek Elementary in Columbus. 

The four primary areas they prepared for were Core Values, a team project, robot design, and the robotics competition itself.

Core Values consisted of themes in inclusion, integration, cooperation, competition, and discovery. The project part had the members help run a clothing drive for the Shepard’s Closet clothing bank at the Methodist Church in St. Edward. 

Throughout the season, the team designed a robot made from all Lego parts that was programmed to complete tasks on a mission board to earn points for the tasks. 

The team placed third in the robotics portion of the regional competition out of 30 teams with a high score of 367 points in their best mission.

The team, called the “Sledgehammers”, came out of the competition qualifying for the state competition on February 20 at the Nebraska Air and Space Museum in Ashland.