Napoleon Dynamite ranked 10th

Saturday i was the designated Parent to accompany my 11 year old Peyton to the State FLL (first lego league) competition at ASU! (there was an article about it here)

it was sponsored by the IRA Fulton School of Engineering.

the FLL is for kids ages 9-14 year olds.

Peyton's ELP class had 3 teams, all three went from regionals to State which had 32 teams competing yesterday.

Part of the day was designated for Technical interviews, a teamwork challenge, and a research presentation- Peyton's team researched and did a skit about helmet safety.

then the rest of the day involved a robotics competition using a robot they had built using legos and a special computer program that they wrote that runs it through a course.

part of the program is just to get kids excited about engineering.

here is the robot Peyton's team built- they named it Napoleon dynamite

here it is with the special robotic arm they built to collect some loops that earned points.

here is the course

part of the challenge is knocking over the red things, and bumping something else. they can set off a truck and collect loops. everything earns different points.

his team had competed in the regional meet last Saturday in Queen Creek. Where after not scoring well in all the morning runs and the first couple challenge runs, they figured out what was wrong and made a HUGE comeback and ended up SCORING 1st in robotics. winning in all of the elimination rounds.

out of 33 teams at the regional meet, They got 3rd overall. and 3rd to go to the state meet. and first in ROBOTICS! only 7 teams got to go to state and 3 of them were from Peyton's ELP class.

Last week the hubs was the designated parent. being an engineer, and a nerd, it was right up his ally. while i wanted to go experience the wonder and excitement it wasn't conveniently located, and we have 5 other kids that wouldn't be very cooperative all day.

the plan was for the hubs to go all day Saturday again at ASU ( which is the same college the hubs graduated from 3 years ago with a degree in Computer Systems Engineering) , and I'd make an appearance.

Fast forward to Thursday night. while i was frantically delivering dinner to my mom, and rushing back to go to Peyton's band concert , i called and asked the hubs to get the kids going to be ready to leave when i got home. While on the phone , the hubs slipped on some water that Pierce had sprayed on the floor and screwed up his bad ankle.

He donned his walking boot and managed to make it to the concert but his plans to accompany Peyton Saturday were shot.

Leaving me the designated parental unit to go to the nerd fest on Saturday.

Saturday: i got up at 7:30am. we had to be at the ASU memorial union by 8:30. and we got done at 6:00pm. it made for a long day.

In the morning, tempers were running high between the team members. everyone was anxious and wanting to do well. we had to keep reminding the kids it was a HUGE privilege just to be there to compete and the important thing was to have fun and enjoy the experience.

Peyton has always clashed with one particular little girl in our neighborhood and somehow she ended up being on his team. both of them always want to be in charge, so they clash constantly. She had made up a new program that had the potential to score 340 if it ran right. they couldn't quite get it to work right and they scored lower than they had because of the attempt.

for the last round they went back to the original programing and moved up from ranking 21st up to 10th.

unfortunately they were eliminated in the first elimination round.

their highest score for the day was 290 and their team ranked 10th in the state. they didn't win anything other than a participation medal but they had a fun experience and learned something new.

Here is Peyton's ELP teacher/Coach and his team -The HELMETEERS!

front row-Ethan, Morgan, William, Peyton

Back row-Jacob,Preston, DJ Angela

between the robot runs we played outside by the fountain - Peyton got caught on top of the fountain by ASU police. they honked, and the kids scrambled! you'd think they were a pack of hoodlums used to getting caught and running from the cops.

Ethan, Jacob, DJ, Angela,Morgan,Preston and Peyton.

at one point some of the kids danced. i was surprised how many boys were out there dancing.

Peyton and I had a great day together. i got to know some of his friends and his friends parents better and it's kinda fun to spend the day with just one kid doing his special event.

Oh and i noticed Peyton has his FIRST ZIT!

we got home at 6:30 and the hubs and I went out. we did dinner and the bookstore and i was in bed and asleep by 10:30.

How old were you when you got your first real zit?

Do you like how i don't know any of the technical terms for the items on the course?

in case you wanted to know more- here are some details about FLL- (i snagged them from here on the ASU website)

FIRST LEGO League (FLL) is an exciting and fun global robotics program that ignites an enthusiasm for discovery, science and technology in kids ages nine to 14 (16 outside of the U.S. and Canada).

Each year FLL teams embark on an adventurous challenge based on current, real-world issues. Guided by a team coach and assisted by mentors, the kids:

• Research and solve a real-world problem based on the challenge theme.
• Present their research and solutions.
• Build an autonomous robot using engineering concepts.

Using the yearly challenges, FLL:

• Entices kids to think like scientists and engineers.
• Provides a fun, creative, hands-on learning experience.
• Teaches kids to experiment and overcome obstacles.
• Builds self-esteem and confidence.
• Inspires kids to participate in science and technology.

© 2009 crazymamaof6