Mulrennan Middle School FLL Robotics Team Invited to Represent Florida in an International STEM Competition

The positive impact of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, or STEM education is receiving a lot of well deserved attention these days. The benefits o research, critical thinking, problem solving, and public speaking skills are also apparent. Mix in lessons in Core Values, such as Gracious Professionalism, Honoring the Spirit of Friendly Competition, Team Work, plus exciting 2.5 minute Robot Game rounds held in arenas with music blaring and tons of cheering, and you start to get an idea of what FIRST Lego League (FLL) is about. Dean Kamen, of Segway fame, started the Foundation for the Inspiration of Science and Technology (FIRST) to inspire future engineers and scientists. Dean calls it “Sport for the Mind.”

 A diverse team of 10 middle schoolers from Mulrennan Middle School in Valrico, Florida has had an exciting FLL season this year.  They won the 2nd Place Project Award at the Minotaur Pre-Qualifying Tournament at Stewart Middle School, the Tournament Champion’s Award at the Suncoast Qualifying Tournament at HCC Brandon, and the Judges’ Award at the West Florida Regional Tournament at Middleton High School. Then, on March 8, 2015 the Mulrennan Mustechs won the 2nd Place Champion’s Award at the Florida State FLL Championship at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, and an invitation to an international tournament, the Razorback Invitational at the University of Arkansas on May 14th-17th. This is a 64 team tournament that will have teams from all corners of the US, plus teams from around the world, including India, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, the UK, South Africa, Taiwan, Korea, and more. The Mustechs are seeking additional sponsors to help raise funds for travel costs so that they can represent Florida at this exciting international STEM competition. Please see www.mustechs.com for more information.

To earn this opportunity, the group of 6th, 7th, and 8th graders designed, built, and programmed their LEGO Mindstorms EV3 robot to autonomously score as many points as possible on a 4 foot by 8 foot Playing Field in 2.5 minute Robot Game rounds. The Mulrennan Mustechs also researched this year’s theme “World Class” to learn about real world challenges in education. After learning about how many college students are so busy with family and jobs that only online classes fit their schedules, and learning about the challenges of online testing, the Mustechs developed an innovative solution that adds new features to a biometric smart pen, and applied it to the new application of online testing. This innovative solution improves the way that busy college students learn math. The Mustechs also honed their team work skills in order to excel at team work challenges, and apply the FLL Core Values both during FLL events and in their everyday lives.