Stamford Robotics

Our 3rd Annual Jr. FIRST LEGO League Exposition in Stamford on February 7th was a smash hit! 30 teams representing 6 public schools, 1 private school, 3 community organizations, 1 homeschool team (from Framingham MASS), and 1 New Jersey/Connecitcut partnership team participated making this by far our largest event ever. Approximately 180 students participated, sharing their interest in science and technology (and LEGO) with our dedicated reviewers and interested audience. At the end of the day all teams were recognized with LEGO trophies and individual medals for their unique achievements!

A wider reach

Our program inspired 36 teams to take the Jr. FIRST LEGO League "Smart Move" challenge this year (with 8 teams to participate in an upcoming "mini" expo at Northeast Elementary). That's well over 200 kids participating in this program in our community alone.

Sponsors and Partners

A huge thank you to our sponsors and partners in this effort.

Our event was co-sponsored by the Stamford Public Education Foundation and the Parent Teacher Council of Stamford. Pitney Bowes Inc. sponsored the event as well as provided tremendous support in the form of volunteers who mentored and coached several community and school teams. Kiwanis Club of Stamford also played a key role in sponsoring several school teams & providing volunteers to coach some teams. Without awesome sponsors like these our event would not be possible.

Special Note: On March 1st Mr. Murray Martin, President and CEO of Pitney Bowes as well as a serving board member of the Pitney Bowes Foundation, is being honored for his commitment to excellence in education by the Stamford Public Education Foundation at the Palace. Click here for more information and to join us at this event.

VIP Presenters and Guests

We were thrilled to once again host a number of special guest speakers and award presenters.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and State Senator Andrew McDonald helped open our event with their words of encouragement and wisdom to the kids. We appreciate the time taken from their busy schedules to attend.

Stamford Citizen of the Year Juanita James also honored us by acting as our official award presenter. She encouraged all the kids to work hard in their pursuit of education and in life. We were thrilled to have such a wonderful community leader and inspirational speaker to present the awards to all teams and team members.

We were also very happy to have Mayor Michael Pavia in attendance. Mayor Pavia took the time to speak to many teams about their projects and recognize their work.

Breakfast with the Attorney General and State Senator

One aspect of our Expo is the many high school students who volunteer as junior mentors, team reviewers, and event volunteers. One exciting element of this year's Expo was that Attorney General Blumenthal and State Senator McDonald came early to our event to host a breakfast with the high school student volunteers. These students had a unique opportunity to speak to their elected representatives in a small group setting where they were able to ask their questions and offer their opinions. We thank the Attorney General and State Senator for this unique contribution to our event.

Smart Move Around the Globe Student Activity

Inspired by the transportation theme, this year's activity was conceived and organized by the youth founders of Stamford Robotics. All participants were given a passport and tickets to travel around the globe. On their journey they enjoyed varied activities as they visited each continent. For example in Asia, the kids practiced Yoga, while in Europe they solved a crossword puzzle. In Latina America they learned about football (American soccer), while in North America they voted for their favorite Super Bowl team. In Antarctica, they danced the penguin dance, and in Australia they sang the Kukaburra song. Finally in Africa they completed the "I spy" safari.

During their journey, the kids connected with the Kick for Nick program. All travelers helped decorate soccer balls that will be transported to children in Iraq or Afghanistan in honor of Private First Class Nick Madaras - a soldier who "...believed in what he was doing, and truly wanted to help the people of Iraq...". For more information visit kickfornick.org.

Youth Volunteers Special Recognition

A number of our youth volunteers deserve special mention. These volunteers have served as either junior mentors, event reviewers, or program organizers (or in some cases in multiple capacities) for all three years of our program. We wanted them to know that their awesome dedication has not gone unnoticed.

• Dawn Winsor
• Felicia Tam
• Jonathan Keuhn
• Jyotsna Winsor
• Kelsey Bittel
• Kristofor Bittel
• Kurt Bittel
• Mallika Winsor
• Mike Melendez
• Nick Kuehn
• Rachel Winsor

Many other youth volunteers have helped make this program a success. We offer our thanks to them all.

FIRST Programs

Jr. FIRST LEGO League is a program of the FIRST organization (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). The FIRST mission is "To transform our culture by creating a world where science and technology are celebrated and where young people dream of becoming science and technology heroes." They do that by sponsoring 4 competetive programs which engage students from age 6 all the way up through high school. Find our more about the FIRST mission, programs, and achievements at usfirst.org.

Jr. FIRST LEGO League is a yearly challenge appropriate for kids age 6 to 9. Each year in September FIRST announces the Jr. FLL challenge. The science topic changes every year with this year's "Smart Move" challenge related to transportation science and technology. Kids are challenged to form teams of up to 6, learn about the challenge topic, and build cool LEGO models to reflect their learning about the science topic as well as basic mechanical/engineering principles of "simple machines". The challenge concludes with team's attending a Jr. FLL Expo where they present their models and findings to reviewers, participate in fun topic related activities, and are rewarded for their achievements with a LEGO trophy.

Jr. FIRST LEGO League prepares kids for it's "big brother" FIRST LEGO League program where kids build and program real robots using LEGO NXT kits while coming up with real science and engineering solutions related to the yearly topic.

Other FIRST programs in Stamford

Two High School FIRST Robotics Challenge teams are also in Stamford, team 3104 from the Academy of Information Technology and Engineering (our Expo host!), as well as team 2862 from Westhill High School. Team 3104 from AITE provided youth volunteers to manage all our A/V requirements for the event. We appreciate their support and look forward to the future where we can work with them to promote and support FIRST programs in Stamford.

What about FIRST LEGO League for ages 9 to 14? It's been over two year's since Stamford fielded an FLL team at the Connecticut FLL regional and championship events. It's time for that to change. Interested? CLICK HERE to get on our mailing list NOW. We'll be updating you on this program and taking meaningful action to get this started throughout the spring, but it can't happen without YOUR interest and support.

We've Got Pictures!

See ALL pictures from this event
Picture Credits: All Pictures in this story courtesy of Lou Finkel.