January 27, 2025

LEGO League gives students chance to innovate solutions

By JOHN JENNINGS

First time LEGO League participants The Dynamites did so well at the competition that they received the “Rising Star” award. Pictured above are The Dynamites: Ashley Ambroson, Sara Cook, Anna Barr, Liam Briggs, Ryan Chance, Hanna Scotton, Mentor Sue Smith, Alyssa Bartels, Michael Peterson, Mentor Matt Chance and Valerie Peterson. Students this year worked with renewable energies. John Jennings/Daily News

For the past several years, Newton students have participated in a program that tests their abilities in a variety of skills and disciplines, including science, engineering and technology. The four teams from Newton are gaining a reputation for rising to the top of the competition, and this year was no different. The First LEGO League Iowa Championship was held Jan. 19 on the Iowa State University campus, sponsored by ISU’s College of Engineering and Rockwell Collins. Each of the four Newton teams brought home a trophy. Each year, the First LEGO League mission is based on a timely engineering topic. Students have about four months to design, build and program a robot made from LEGOs, and the robots must have on-board computerized commands, that is, they are not remote-controlled. During the competition, students compete with other teams to perform missions that represent the challenges faced by today’s scientists and engineers attempting to solve real-world problems. This year the students learned valuable information about renewable energies. One of the Newton teams, the Dynamites, a rookie team to the tournaments this year was guided by Emerson Hough Elementary instructor Nancy Hemphill and LEGO League mentors Matt Chance and Sue Smith, conducted an energy audit of Berg Middle School and researched wind power. As a result of their research, the team recommended that a wind turbine be used to produce some of Berg Middle School’s energy requirements. The team interviewed Berg Middle School Principal Dave Gallaher and reported that the process of installing a wind turbine near the middle school football field would take about two years. A small wind turbine would cost about $500,000, and a large one would provide enough energy to power all of the middle school. During the competition, teams have 2.5 minutes per round to complete as many challenges as they can, in any order. Challenges include programming their robot to perform various tasks, such as harvesting corn, planting trees, or placing a wave turbine in the ocean on a 4-foot by 8-foot playing field. Each team competes in three rounds, and teams keep the best score from those rounds. Teams are penalized for touching their robot during a match while it is out of its designated base. The Dynamites were a rookie team this year, but they did so well at the competition that they received the “Rising Star” award. To receive this award, the team must excel in all four judging areas of the competition, including robotic performance, technical (such as robotic design and programming), teamwork and presentation of research findings. Here’s what the Dynamite team members had to say about what they learned:

  • Alyssa Bartels: “I learned that wave turbines are wind turbines under water.”
  • Ryan Chance: “I learned what a solar cell looks like.”
  • Ashley Ambroson: I learned that renewable energies help the environment more than non-renewables.”
  • Sara Cook: “If everybody used renewable energies, the earth would be a lot cleaner.”
  • Anna Barr: “It’s very expensive to buy renewable equipment, but eventually it will become less expensive to operate.”
  • Hanna Scotton: “There is wind farming as a job.”
  • Alyssa Bartels: “It takes five to seven mile per hour winds to operate a wind turbine.”
  • Valerie Peterson: “Tom Wind works at Wind Industries.”
  • Michael Peterson: “Wind energy saves water.” While the Dynamites were earning their award, the three other Newton LEGO League teams were earning awards of their own. The Challengers received the “Against All Odds” award at the tournament for ‘stick-to-it determination.’ The Challengers team members included Megan Sorenson, Issiah Dickey, Amber Karsten, Jacob Smith, Cally Claussen, Jordan Veach, Austin Wyre, Patrick Murphy, Drake Rhone and mentor Les Gause. The Mindstorms team received the Robotic Programming trophy, which is presented to the team that understands outstanding programming principles and whose robot demonstrated programming mastery. The Mindstorms team members are Madison Bagnall, Madison Hunke, Caitlin Combs, Emily Forsyth, Courtney Griggs, Evan Shimon, Jakob Thompson, Jennifer Ventling, Ryan Thompson, and mentors Larry Shimon and Kathy Ventling. The Beezz team was presented the Creative Presentation of Research award for an imaginative, creative presentation demonstrating the team’s research and solution. The Beezz are Christopher Thorpe, Rachel Prendergast, Colin Nelson, Nick Easley, Duncan Lee, Madilyn Peckham, Sean Richardson, Makayla Klein, Justin Prendergast, Devon Wolf and mentors Curran Cotton, Rita Baker and Richard Lewis. A total of 70 teams competed this year, including teams from Missouri, Nebraska and Illinois. This was the first year that all four Newton teams received recognition, with Newton teams finishing in the top ten this year.