Mt. Eccles Robotics FIRST Lego League teams participated in a virtual qualifier event on Dec. 2 with nine teams from around the state, testing their season knowledge and experiences in a friendly competition.
Their efforts paid off with two Mt. Eccles teams winning awards for Core Values. The sixth grade Cyber Hackers took third, and the fourth grade Super Sonics took second place. Winning the Core Values awards is a true reflection on how well the kids communicate, work together, problem solve and demonstrate real world team skills.
The virtual qualifier brought together teams from Kodiak and Barrow, plus rural coastal communities. Cordova’s three Mt. Eccles teams included the fourth grade Super Sonics, the fifth grade G.A.K. (Girls and Karls), and the sixth grade Cyber Hackers.
The morning began with judging sessions, where students meet with remote officials for three 10-minute sessions online to share their robot designs, discuss their projects on hydro dynamics, and demonstrate core value skills such as communication, teamwork and gracious professionalism.
The afternoon involved highly anticipated and exciting robot matches where teams demonstrated their robots abilities to complete specific automated tasks. Mt. Eccles teams had modest goals of a working robot and completing at least one task.
The fourth grade Super Sonics team had some robot stability issues early on and had to sit out the first two matches, but with some perseverance and junior high assistance, finally had a working robot in the final match. The fifth grade G.A.K. team took penalties in each of the first two matches when they grabbed their robot to reattempt a failed mission. In the third match, however, they successfully completed the targeted mission challenge earning 20 points. The sixth grade Cyber Hackers had three targeted missions and in each match progressively earned more points completing all their targeted missions in the final match for a total of 55 points.
The event was a huge success for the students.
We appreciate all the volunteers who helped during the season, the junior/senior high robotics teams that helped run the local qualifier, and JEDC for running the FIRST program in Alaska.
On Dec. 21, all the Cordova robotics teams will host a showcase evening at CHS.
Jeremiah Beckett is the advisor of the Cordova High School Tech Club
