A group of sixth graders are getting ready for a big competition with robotics teams from across North America. Their team is called the Lego Superheroes and they’re all girls.
Grace Dierks, Maddie Miner, Katherine Kovich, Julia Barr, and Maria Schug have put in a lot of hard work programming their robot and also working on presentations for First Lego League competitions. They’re a part of St. Mary’s Catholic School’s robotics club. They went to regionals, then state, and because they did so well, they got an invitation to the North America International Open.
Grace says that she wanted to be a part of this after she saw in third grade a robotics team getting recognized. “I thought, ‘oh I want to do that. That looks really cool.’”
Together, the team’s learned all kinds of life lessons along the way: public speaking, communication, and problem solving.
“We just have to persevere through it and try different ways,” Maddie says.
That perseverance led to success at the state competition. It was there that a second grader approached them.
“She was like ‘oh my gosh it's the Lego Superheroes!’” Grace says.
Now it’s Grace and her team inspiring those who are younger and they hope even more girls get involved in robotics.
“I think that we could mentor them and help them be the best they can be,” she says. “Girls can do anything!”
The North American competition is in May and the team does need some help getting there. If you’d like to learn more, you can visit their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/stmaryrobotics
(story: Katie Chen, KHQ.com; photo: KHQ.com)