On Sunday, March 3, from 9:00 a.m. to approximately 5:00 p.m., eight weeks of research and design will culminate in the FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) LEGO League (FLL) Long Island Championship Tournament, where 42 teams of children and coaches will demonstrate their problem-solving skills, creative thinking, teamwork, competitive play, sportsmanship, and sense of community. The Championship Tournament will take place at Longwood High School, located at 100 Longwood Road in Middle Island. The event is being sponsored by School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc. (SBPLI) and the Longwood Central School District.

Four hundred middle-school children from Long Island will compete in this year’s Championship Tournament. On February 2-3, a qualifying tournament was held at Central Islip High School in which approximately 85 teams competed for an opportunity to advance to the championship tournament.

This year’s Senior Solutions Challenge calls for teams of 9- to 14-year-old children to focus on solving challenges that senior citizens face. Teams will partner with seniors, hold conversations with them about their struggles, and together create solutions as to how these problems can be improved. Upon completion, teams will come together and share the discussed solutions to their senior teammates’ problems. This activity will connect young students and the elderly together to help ensure that a stronger bond within the community is created.

The FLL competition is judged in four areas: project presentation; robot performance; technical design and programming of the robot; and teamwork, with a consideration of the FLL Core Values. The highest honor will go to the team does well in all four areas and best exemplifies the spirit and values of the program.

The Championship Tournament will coincide with the Junior FIRST LEGO League’s (Jr. FLL) Expo, which will take place at the same day and location from 9 a.m. to noon. In the Junior FIRST LEGO League’s SUPER SENIORSSM Challenge, children ages 6 to 9 will learn about the challenges some seniors may have getting around, keeping in touch with friends and family or staying active and fit. They will learn about senior citizens and the changes they have experienced in their lifetime; research one change the senior experienced and find out what experts are doing to make life better or easier for seniors; and learn about simple machines as they build a model made of LEGO elements with a motorized moving part and create a team Show-Me Poster to represent their findings.

Focused on building an interest in science and engineering, Junior FIRST LEGO League is a hands-on program designed to capture young children’s inherent curiosity and direct it toward discovering the possibilities of improving the world around them. Just like FLL, this program features a real-world challenge, to be solved by research, critical thinking and imagination. Guided by adult coaches and the Jr. FLL Core Values, students work with LEGO elements and moving parts to build ideas and concepts and present them for review. Each yearly Challenge has two parts: the LEGO Model and the Show-Me Poster. Working in teams of two to six children and guided by at least one adult coach, teams worked to complete the Challenge.

“The FIRST LEGO League and the Junior FIRST LEGO League give these young children a chance to garner an interest in science and engineering at an early age,” said Janet Anderson, Development Council Member, SBPLI. “Judging by the FLL qualifying tournaments that we had on February 2-3 in which approximately 85 teams participated, the children on Long Island have a genuine interest in science, technology and engineering.”

For a list of the area schools and youth organizations with teams participating in the “Senior Solutions” Challenge, see the attached page. In the event of inclement weather, the event will be rescheduled for Sunday, March 10. For more information, visit www.sbpli.org.

TEAM #
TEAM NAME
LOCATION

225
Mini Baybots A-Team
Hampton Bays

550
South Shore Robotics
Hewlett

624
LEGO Technix
Locust Valley

629
Baybots
Locust Valley

632
Vector
Locust Valley

637
The LEGO-Letes
Locust Valley

638
Crazy Racing Robots
Bayville

641
Robotic Falcons
Locust Valley

642
The Medicine Bottles
Locust Valley

1182
Robotic Vikings
Glen Head

1860
Buckley
Roslyn

3327
Galactic Frogs
Carle Place

3334
Longwood Green
Middle Island

3578
Awesome AHAPers
Dix Hills

3626
Betapobots
POB

3630
Omegapobots
POB

3643
Lion Bots
Bayport

3661
The Avengers Robotics Team

Hicksville

3670
WMS Bulldogs
Hewlett

3681
The Robotic Avengers
Smithtown

3810
GSNC LEGO Chicks
Garden City

3814
GSNC Digital Darlings
Garden City

3815
GSNC Merrick Masters :)
Merrick

3816
GSNC Seaford Supernovas
Seaford

3821
GSNC Robot Cookie Monsters
Merrick

4178
Vicking B.Y.T.E.S.
Smithtown

5003
Atomic Askadarias
POB

5188
Floral Park Brick Heads
Floral Park

5941
Seaford Harbor Robo-Vikings
Seaford

7892
GSSC Radical Robots
Commack

7894
GSSC Juliet Lowbots
Commack

8133
Center Moriches Red Devils
Center Moriches

8493
TIGER BOTS
Floral Park

9528
GSNC Smart Cookies
Garden City

10147
Rocky Point Radical Robotix
Rocky Point

11994
Salk Robohawks
Levittown

12493
GCRL Robotic Rebels
Stewart Manor

12600
CMS Eagles
Copiague

14422
GSSC Dragonflies
Commack

14890
Blazing LEGOS
Great Neck

15891
Junior Canes
Westhampton Beach

15898
Berner Bisons