by Rachel

 

Four girls, two robots, and a dream. FIRST LEGO League(FLL), an international robot-building competition,is a program that supports the theory that anything is possible. Last winter, our team tested just how far that philosophy could go.

 

I’m Rachel Hunter—I’m 12 years old and I’ve been involved with FLL for four years. My FLL “obsession” began when I walked out of my very first FLL regional tournament in 2007. My team of nine kids hadn’t won anything, we hadn’t been nominated for anything, and we weren’t chosen to go on to the state tournament. Still, I knew this was something I wanted to do for every possible year that I could.

 

Last March, our team—me, my classmate Callie, and my sisters Lauren and Caitlin—had our first meeting of “The 4th Motor” team. During the next five months of practice, we brainstormed and focused our research on diabetes. FLL’s theme for that season, Body Forward, challenged us to find a biomedical engineering solution to a health-related issue.

 

We built our competition robot, and got to know each other even more. We had a LEGO-Building Pajama Party to build all the LEGO models, and decorated our LEGO area for the exciting event. We made a CD with fun songs to listen to while we were building.

 

As the FLL season flew by, our team interviewed doctors, dietitians, biomedical engineers and college professors, and worked with two amazing high school mentors. We came up with an innovative solution that allows diabetics to not have to prick their fingers, and presented that solution to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and our school. We wrote programs and built attachments. Best of all, we had a whole lot of fun!

 

As the time for the regional tournament drew closer, we all were excited and nervous. I was shaking as I pulled on my pink 4th Motor shirt and my white sparkly hat. The tournament day itself was mainly a blur of excitement, laughter, and nerve-racking tension. Our judging sessions went well, and we were thrilled to hear this at evening’s end: “And the Champion’s Award goes to our sparkly friends in pink, The 4th Motor, team number 96!”

 

Fast forward through the next two weeks, which were filled with hours of programming changes as we prepared for the state tournament. The competition day flew by, and as we filed in the gym to hear who’d won, people we didn’t even know stood up as they clapped, waved, smiled, and cheered us on. And then we got the news—we were headed for the national competition at LegoLand!

 

And that’s when I could define that indescribable feeling. It’s what I felt running around the gym with my sisters, for I now counted Callie as one of them. What I felt as together, we held up that trophy; what I felt as tears poured down my cheeks; what I felt as we all smiled as one. 

 

That indescribable feeling – that’s called FIRST LEGO League.

 

 

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