St. Mary’s Robotics Team Rolls On!

St. Mary’s Lego Crusaders competed with twenty-seven other Lego teams on Saturday, December 3, 2016 to qualify to advance to the East Tennessee Championship.  The annual Lego^® Challenge requires participants to identify and research a real-world problem, develop and implement a solution, and communicate their results to a panel of judges.   Additionally, the teams are required to design, build, and program a robot using LEGO MINDSTORMS^® to compete on a table-top playing field.  The teams are judged based on their problem/solution, robot design, adherence to the Lego^® Core Values, and performance on the challenge field.
The theme for this year’s Lego^® Challenge was Animal Allies.  Teams were required to identify a problem that occurs when people and animals interact.  The St. Mary’s Lego Crusaders created a website (AnimalFAQsNow) to answer questions and present information about close-encounters with three threatened species of reptiles found in East Tennessee.   

The team received third place in the Robot Design competition and finished 14^th overall in the table-top playing field competition.  The Crusaders advanced to the East Tennessee Championship to be held at Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville, Tennessee on February 11, 2017.  The St. Mary’s team members are Mateo Gorrondona, Ryan Rearden, Miko Zolnierczuk, and Ethan Hall.  The team is coached by Mr. Gorrondona with Mr. Zolnierczuk serving as a mentor and Mrs. Miller as the faculty sponsor.  Way to go Lego Crusaders!