Compton Unified School District recently hosted its first, FIRST LEGO League robotics tournament of the season at Dominguez High School. Twenty-nine CUSD teams from across all middle schools and 14 elementary schools competed for the Championship trophy as well as awards for their project, robot design, and core values.

“The students have put a lot of time into designing innovative solutions to this year's theme: problems related to long-duration space flight, and they have also worked really hard designing, building, and programming solutions using LEGO Mindstorms EV3 robots,” said Michael Kurinsky, Interim Director of Career Technical Education.

This year's theme was INTO ORBIT. Teams researched problems related to long-duration (over 1 year) space flight, reached out to professionals to learn more, analyzed current solutions, then designed their own innovative solution. They also developed a skit to share their solution and what they learned. Teams were also judged on a robot design presentation as well as their Core Values (guiding principles from FIRST).

FIRST LEGO League Robotics Coach Alvaro Brito shared, “Saturday was truly an amazing event that showcased the hard work students at Compton Unified displayed with their LEGO EV3 Robots. Not only did students competed compete in the Robotics game, but they also displayed Gracious Professionalism and their Core Values. Students also were excited to explore a space problem and present an innovation to a panel of judges. First LEGO League is truly a great program because it encompasses more than just programming. It helps build student’s communication, collaboration, creativity and critical thinking skills all while having fun. Our future engineers and programmers love working with their teams and displayed team spirit throughout the engineering process. FLL has exposed out our students to a new world of programming and opened doors of infinite possibilities."

Last year, three teams from two CUSD schools advanced to the regionals. This year, with even more teams competing across the district, students are even more excited and upping to be a part of the league. In fact six talented teams are advancing to the regional championship taking place December 8 through 9: Kelly Team Technos, Jefferson Galaxybots, Mayo Galaxians, Bunche Botnicity, Tibby T-Bots, and Mayo Space Comida."

Students had much to say about the experience:

Valeria: "The think that I like the most in FLL [FIRST LEGO League] is programming and being on a team. I like these things because being on a team is a responsibility and programming is challenging also it is fun.

Ivan: "I think FLL is a great program because I can learn how to program and just learn a lot of new things."

Uma: "The First Lego League team has made us independent and strong against different advantages."

Christopher: "What we like the most is that we have done Gracious Professionalism and then that made me feel super great and it has taught me to collaborate with other teams. The teams are made possible through the district’s investment in the program and the tireless efforts of teacher and parent volunteers who serve as coaches, working with students on weekends as they learn coding, robotics, and most importantly teambuilding and leadership skills. "

Yoshua: "The most special part about Saturday for me was getting to see all the attachments of other people. So I can learn from theirs and get a better one when I group up with my team I can tell them about the attachments."

Valeria: "The think that I like the most in FLL is programming and being on a team. I like these things because being on a team is a responsibility and programming is challenging also it is fun."

Congratulations to all students who stepped up to the challenge, including the top teams, listed below:

Robot Performance
1st Place - Clinton BEMJJ - 120 points
2nd Place - Davis DMS Generals - 115 points

Robot Design
1st Place - Roosevelt MS Astrolions
2nd Place - Longfellow Crazy Comets

Core Values
1st Place - Mayo Space Comida
2nd Place - Mayo Galaxians

Project
1st Place - Tibby T-bots
2nd Place - Jefferson Galaxybots

Stay tuned…there is more to come from Compton Unified School District Robotics Teams!