Junior First Lego League Expo Hosted by Primoris Academy

The award winning Primoris Academy’s First Lego League teams are well known for providing free robotic workshops to the local community. This year, on May 11th, they expanded their outreach efforts by organizing and supervising a Junior First Lego League Expo for students between the ages of six and ten in Northern New Jersey. The event was hosted at Primoris Academy in Westwood and included teams from Bergen, Essex and Morris counties. This expo was one of only four Junior First Lego League Expos in the state of New Jersey this school year.

This year’s theme was Mission Moon. Using the LEGO Education Inspire Model, each team built a moon base. The participants researched the topic and applied what they learned. They learned basic engineering and programming using LEGO Education WeDo and applied these skills to make their models move. Their work was documented in an Engineering Notebook. Each team created a Show Me Poster to share the process they used in creating their moon base. First Lego League requires that teams work under First Core Values which extol discovery, teamwork, and Gracious Professionalism.

The Glen Rock team, Astronauts of the Moon, won the Amazing Movement Award. Sandra Mueninghoff, the team’s coach praised the event saying, “The Junior First Lego League Expo was a great way for the teams to celebrate all their hard work throughout the season, and all that they had learned about living on the moon. There were so many great activities for the kids to participate in and it was very well run.” The host team, Primoris Cubs Junior, was awarded for Master Programming.

This is the third year that robotic workshops have been offered to the local community by Primoris Academy students. In running the Expo, the students have furthered their collaborative and leadership skills and had fun. One of the organizers, Anthony Kim of Old Tappan said “The teams especially liked launching water bottle rockets. Some of the rockets went as high as the roof.”

A free robotics workshop for six to twelve year olds is being offered at Primoris Academy in Westwood to the community on June 7th. There are twenty spots and acceptance is first come, first served. To register go to https://forms.gle/Y5wRSTYCXyLqn4N1A. Email robotics@primorisacademy.org with any questions.