We are part of a long line of St. Clare teams and each team has added to the program’s legacy. Now it is our turn. Just like the popular Transformers movie has added multiple sequels, our program is now in its 15th year of existence with numerous awards and five New York City FIRST LEGO League titles under our belts. We started out with one FLL team in 2003 and we have grown to six FLL teams, five FLL Junior teams and a number of intramural teams and primary programs. The older children mentor the younger ones so the traditions continues.

Our team consists of five members who have attended St. Clare School since we were knee high so you can say we are like family. All of us have been interested in robotics ever since fourth grade. It has intrigued us how a robot could complete many tasks by using software to program. In fourth grade, we started with simple LEGO machines kits and used a power brick to spin the tornado we made out of LEGOs. We moved from the FLL Junior program to intramurals to the competition FLL team using the NXT and then the EV3 robotics programs. It was an evolutionary process that has developed our engineering talents and has taught us the importance of teamwork. We are also a fun-loving team that has parties at the swim club, help special needs children play baseball, have nerf wars and more.

A unique characteristic of our program is that we work year-round including summers with training sessions, community service projects, promotional events and, of course, lots of sessions devoted to the FIRST LEGO League challenge. While we take pride in all aspects, one of our most satisfying and time-consuming tasks is the research project where we get to create real-world solutions to problems. We look forward to the different topics every year and using that as a means to touch the lives of others.

We are especially proud of the fact that some of our members were at the World Championship last year after winning New York City. Being selected as the New York City representative for the Global Innovations Awards for the Hydro Dynamics Challenge this year is the perfect way to complete our experience at St. Clare since we are all eighth graders and are graduating this year. We look forward to meeting other GIA teams from around the world and sharing our ideas with students who are as committed to making a difference in the world as we are.