Gros Cap Students Advance to State Finals in Lego Robotics Design Team Competition

The Moran Huskies Lego Team includes (not in order of appearance) Haillee Becker, Jennie Bird, Trevor Blair, Joe Krause, Brandon Marshall, Bridgette Matycich, Levi Rogers, Taylor Styes, and Galloway Thurston. The team is coached by sixth grade teacher Marcia Sweeney.

The Moran Huskies Lego Team from Gros Cap School in Moran Township has qualified for the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) Lego League State Finals December 16, in Flint. The team is the only one in The St. Ignace News coverage area to advance to state finals after competing in the Saturday, November 11, Upper Peninsula "Nano of the North" Logo Robotics finals in Sault Ste. Marie.

All of Marcia Sweeney's sixth grade students at Gros Cap School are enrolled in the competition involving computers, research, robotics, teamwork, and presentations.

Tahquamenon Area Schools was the only other district in the Eastern Upper Peninsula to qualify for the finals.

The team took fifth place out of five teams that will represent the Upper Peninsula in the finals.

The students researched and created a book called "Buckyballs: Advantages Versus Disadvantages,"

which deals with nanotechnology, the design and production of small electronic devices and circuits built from atoms and molecules. The technology is expected to impact every facet of society, from medicine to computers to the environment.

At the competition, the Gros Cap students not only presented their research and their robot, they sang a song about their research.

Other qualifying teams include Gwinn Middle School's first place team, "The Nano Dealers," Tahquamenon Area Schools' "Team Tahquabots" in second place, Houghton Middle School's "Techno Geeks" in third, and Northern Michigan University of Marquette in fourth. Because Northern Michigan's team will be unable to compete December 16, the sixth place Wells Township "Wells Lego Leaders" will compete in their place.

The Nano of the North competition was held at Big Bear Arena in Sault Ste. Marie, and included 13 teams from around the Upper Peninsula. The theme was nanotechnology, a branch of science and engineering devoted to the design and production of extremely small electronic devices and circuits built from individual atoms and molecules. Nanotechnology is a new frontier that is expected to impact every facet of society, from medicine to computers to the environment.

Teams were comprised of students nine to 14 years of age. Each team programmed robots to complete a series of specific tasks. They also were required to complete a team presentation, teamwork challenge, and a robot design, and programming question and answer segment.

Gros Cap's team has been programming only since September, and created a program that played an original song composed for the competition.

"Their strongest category was the Research Project, and the presentation of what they learned in the form of an original song they made up for the competition," said sixth grade teacher Marcia Sweeney. "While I have been taking teams to competition for four years, this is the first year for these sixth grade students to compete."

The Moran Huskies team includes Haillee Becker, Levi Rogers, Brandon Marshall, Galloway Thurston, Joe Krause, Trevor Blair, Bridgette Matycich, Jennie Bird, and Taylor Styes.

If they place in the top 20 at the state finals in Flint, they will qualify for the national FIRST Lego Group competition.