Husmann Fifth-Grade Robotics Team Advances to National Competition

The FIRST LEGO League (FLL) all-girls robotics team is comprised of fifth-grade students Maddie Dennis, Molly Wacaser, Allie Klauser and Sammie Stebbings, as well as their friend and fellow Girl Scout Jocelyn Nieze, a fifth-grader at West Lake Christian Academy in Grayslake. The team is coached by Taryn and Ken Stebbings (Sammie’s parents), who came up with the idea for a robotics league after hearing about the success of Fruit Salad, another all-girl robotics team from Crystal Lake.

“The FLL is a great all-around program for kids to explore and learn about STEM and have fun while doing it,” said Taryn Stebbings.

The fifth-grade FLL robotics team, known as The Lovely Lego Ladies, has had an incredible start! In September, the girls won the “Most Effective Effort” award at a scrimmage hosted by District 75 in Mundelein. They then moved on to the regional qualifier in December and won two awards, “Best Rookie Team” and “Best Project.” Out of 16 teams they were one of four that were allowed to advance to the state championship at the University of Illinois in Champaign/Urbana in January. Out of 64 teams competing, they received the “Second Place Champions” award and will now advance to the North American Open in Carlsbad, California, in mid-May.

“We are so impressed with how much these girls have learned in a very short period of time and what they have achieved this first year,” said Taryn Stebbings. “Not only have they learned about designing and programming a robot, but they have learned public speaking skills, problem-solving skills and time and stress management skills. These girls juggle this and many other activities and are true leaders in their classrooms and among their peers. We are so proud of all of them.”

The FLL competitions are comprised of four judging elements: a research project presentation, a team-building activity and a robot design presentation, all of which are followed by Q&A sessions. The fourth element is a robot performance where the robot designed and programmed moves around a board to complete as many missions as possible in two-and-a-half minutes.

The girls have been actively showing off their robot to Husmann third-, fourth- and fifth-graders as well as students in the extended curriculum program. In addition, as part of National Robotics Week several weeks ago, the team was invited to the Museum of Science and Industry to present their robot to museum guests.

When asked if she thought they’d get this far their first year, Maddie Dennis answered, “No, not at all. I thought we would be a rookie team laughing and winging it. It turned out we were laughing but we also had a plan and we succeeded!”

The girls said that their experience with the robotics team has piqued their interest in the areas of STEM and engineering and all plan to continue with the program next year and do more competitions.

“When I’m older I want to be able to become an electrical engineer who builds amazing robots,” said Sammie Stebbings. “This experience has helped me with learning how you program things, and that you don’t give up just because you can’t get it right.”

According to Ken Stebbings, “When you sign up for FLL one of the first things they tell you is it’s ‘the hardest fun you’ll ever have,’ and it’s true! Working through problems, dealing with frustration, and ultimately coming up with solutions is what FLL is all about. The Lovely Lego Ladies have come so far and learned so much in a single season--figuring out mechanical design, programming, and strategy were all new to the girls this year, and they did great! We can’t wait for next year!”