A group of children from a number of south Donegal schools have had a double success at the All Ireland finals of the ‘FIRST’ Lego League Masterpiece Challenge.
‘Cully Coders’ left last week’s tournament with two trophies and two record scores in the Robot Games and Knockout Competition.
The team has been working towards the finals since October at weekly Lego Club meetings in Cully Hall, Laghey.
It is made up of Zoe McElhinney (12) and Georgia Green from Robertson National School, Rebecca McElhinney (12) and Sienna Deane (11) from Glebe NS and Andrew Morrow (12) from Inver NS. Their Adult Volunteer Mentors are Stephen McElhinney, Scott McElhinney, Brendon Green, Ian Deane and David Morrow.
FIRST is an acronym for ‘For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology’. This science and technology challenge is aimed at 11 to 16 year olds. Teams were required to build a robot from Lego to tackle a series of missions and create new ways to communicate art across the globe using technology.
The Cully Coders earned their Wild Card place in the final by scoring more points than all of the other 149 teams in the Robot Game section across 11 Regional Tournaments.
It was going to be a challenge for this young team as many of their competitors were second level students, competing in the tournament as part of their Transition Year.
The Cully Coders kept their cool at the finals and were laser focused on completing their missions. One judge described the team’s approach as ‘ice cool’. They completed the
Robot Game section with an impressive highest score of 470 points, beating their own previous record.
This score gained them a place in the Knockout Competition, where once again they beat all of the other teams with an impressive score of 480. This meant that the Cully Coders left the Tournament with two trophies and two All-Ireland record scores in the Robot Games and Knockout Competition.
At the end of a long and exciting day, the Cully Coders and their families made their way back to Donegal – a group of delighted children and very proud parents.
Tags: