Exploring New Horizons Leads to Self Discovery

John Rolfe Middle School’s brand new LEGO team competed for the first time on December 13th, and the young team held their own amongst seasoned competitors. 

LEGO team’s coach, Allison Boyd, was aware her team was coming into the competition much less experienced but knew her team's strength lay in their fervent spirit. 

“Our group is extremely diverse and our projects were definitely done by kids,” said Boyd. 

The team’s projects were not only made with immense effort from each team member, they were crafted with creativity from young minds interested in science, technology, engineering, and math.

The LEGO team isn’t just building blocks; it involves robotic elements requiring engineering skills. Many students join the team due to their interest in engineering. 

“I like coding and building with LEGOs and it combined both of my interests,” said 8th grader Jason Guard “This was a new thing for me to try as I hadn’t seen it before.”

This is Jason’s first time being a part of a LEGO team let alone competing against other schools—as a self-proclaimed “introvert” he was nervous going in, but soon found his groove within the coding section.

“I had to code for the board from memory at times and guess on the right timings before we were able to get back to the practice board. That was exciting,” said Jason.

“The awards ceremony is something I’ll always remember.” Jason said. “When we won our award it was exciting…it is something that will stand out for a long time.”

For the newcomers, it’s the support and guidance from experienced teammates that allows the team to flourish.

6th grader Aurie Franklin came into the John Rolfe LEGO team with a year of experience under her belt—although she knew what to expect, competitions are always nerve wracking. 

“I was a bit nervous because it was a new place and I was on a new team with new people,” said Aurie. ”I was excited to do the competition and to see my old team from Baker Elementary.”

Fueled by her previous knowledge, Aurie happily took lead on the innovation project.

“On the innovation project, I did a lot of the main cutting, designing, and building to make it work,” Aurie said. 

She expressed her love of the entire competition including the robot game and cheering for everyone at the ending ceremony. 

“My favorite memory is our teamwork. We went from barely knowing each other but from all the meetings we got to know each other better each time. I feel like we worked well as a team,” said Aurie. 

Competition day showed students what positive teamwork can accomplish—the team was awarded with the Core Values award!

This award is quite impressive for a new team to earn, and greatly deserved. 

“After the event, I felt good and proud that we finished this project together. I was also really surprised we won first place for the Core Values award,” Jason said.

“Sometimes we had tough times but got through it,” said Aurie. “I liked the whole experience and was shocked that we won the Core Values award! Our teamwork paid off!”

The recognition showed the team that despite their inexperience they are a stand out amongst all the competitors—this award will likely encourage them to keep working hard and support each other.

The LEGO team was made possible with the assistance of Start 1 Spark. Because of the generous donations, Start 1 Spark provided the team with t-shirts and many of the supplies needed to create their technical projects. Proving that teamwork never gets old!