On November 17, 2012, 33 teams from the Greater Boston area competed at the FIRST Lego League robotics regional qualifier event hosted at Newton North.

Two Newton teams, the Ligercubs and Pause4Effect, are made up of students from Day Middle School, while a third team, the CaBOTs, has members from both Bigelow and Day Middle Schools. All three teams won major awards at the competition, and all three qualified for the State Championship that will be held at Worcester Polytechnic Institute on December 15, 2012.

“The kids were simply amazing,” said coach Tim Strayer, and explained

that through the FIRST program, student teams must complete a full research project and demonstrate core values of good collaboration and innovation. “These kids have really done science,” Strayer added. “They have been exposed through immersion to the skills of defining a problem, setting requirements, researching solutions, differentiating their solution, and assessing its practicality.” Students also devote on average 8-10 extra hours per week for over two months designing, constructing, and evaluating their robotics project.

Stay tuned for updates on the State Championship!