Glastonbury Team Takes Home Major Lego League Honor

GLASTONBURY, CT — A team of Glastonbury students competed in a statewide First Lego League championship last weekend at Glastonbury High School.

Out of the 48 teams, and hundreds of competitors, the team, Thunder Gauntlets, captured the first-place trophy for Core Values.

The team is comprised of:

• Charlee Martin, a fifth-grader from Hebron Ave School
• Cristian Cordero, a fifth-grader from Buttonball School
• Caroline Felkel, a sixth-grader attending Gideon Welles
• Kellan Moore, a seventh-grader at Smith Middle School
• William Martin an eighth-grader at Smith Middle School

The team was mentored by Carina Weidmann, a team member of the nationally recognized Armored Artemises First Tech Challenge team, who attends Smith as an eight-grader.

It was the second, first-place Core Values award for this team. It also took the honor at the qualifier event, the East of the River Tournament, hosted by Tolland High School in November.

From the FLL website, Core Values are described as "The FIRST Core Values are the cornerstones of the program. They are among the fundamental elements that distinguish FIRST LEGO League from other programs of its kind.
By embracing the Core Values, participants learn that friendly competition and mutual gain are not separate goals, and that helping one another is the foundation of teamwork."

The include:

• Discovery: We explore new skills and ideas.

• Innovation: We use creativity and persistence to solve problems.

The team spent months meeting two-to-four times a week. Throughout the months, they exhibited teamwork by valuing and exploring each other's ideas, maintaining positive attitudes even when things did not go well, and having fun together.