26 FEBRUARY 2023 By Mallory Gleich Echo Canyon School has much to celebrate in the new year – a new mural showcasing their school to drivers on Camelback Road, a return to classes, and a championship win for their competitive robotics team, the RoarBots. The ten members of this competitive team headed to the Mesa Academy of Advanced Studies in December to participate in the First Lego League (FLL) Mesa Qualifying Tournament. The First Lego League organization introduces science, technology, engineering and math to students ages 4-16 through hands-on learning experiences. Participants gain real-world, problem- solving skills through the robotics program, where they experiment and grow their critical thinking, coding and design skills. The challenge? Teams had to build and program a Lego robot that traverses the missions of a robot game. Part of this includes researching to identify and solve a relevant real-world problem. There are three parts to the FLL Challenge: robot design and score, presentation of solution and core values. This year’s theme was called SuperPowered. The RoarBots were tasked with researching how energy is produced, stored, transported and used. They had to identify the problem and solve it. Once the Lego robots were built, the teams added up points for things like the “car” no longer touching the ramp, the energy unit (a Lego piece) placed in the car, raising certain pieces and placing others inside the “car.” “The team’s solution was to come up with a new, clean, untapped energy source to at least aid in removing fossil fuels in our environment,” Coach and fourth-grade teacher Kay King said. The team members succeeded and were awarded the Champion’s Award, meaning they won in all three categories. They also won the Robot Performance Award, after they got the highest score of 210 points in the robot matches. “I felt very scared at one point while we were waiting for the scoreboard to give us the final score,” team member Hillary Peyton said. “When the scores came up, and I saw that we were in the first place, it was fantastic! I was so happy that I cried. I love my team and celebrating this with them.” Even more impressive is that this is the first FLL Challenge the RoarBots have competed in since 2020. Out of 14 teams, they took the top spot. They were awarded two trophies and medals for all the members. “The team was so surprised, proud and blown away by their wins. I am so proud of them,” King said. “I was surprised that we won because in the first round, the robot messed up and even fell over, but after making a few adjustments to the robot, our next two rounds went well. I was in shock when we won. My favorite part was that it was fun,” team member Andrew Pulido said. The RoarBots were one of the top four teams at the qualifying tournament, which earned an invite to the State FLL Tournament at ASU on January 14, where they competed with the top teams from around the state. RoarBots tackle First Lego League Competition (back) Andy Silvertson, Rae Ramirez, Alexis Rojas, Mia Clyde. (middle) Andrew Pulido, Indy Strebe, Hillary Peyton, Jonah Gross. (front) Klover Eichenauer, Chloe Wilkins and Monse Castillo. PHOTO COURTESY OF KAY KING HIGHPLACEMORTGAGE.COM | 800.996.0662 2930 E CAMELBACK ROAD, SUITE 175 | PHOENIX, AZ 85016 ▶ Conventional Loans ▶ First-time Home Buyers ▶ Construction Loans ▶ Portfolio Products ▶ Private Money ▶ Bank Statement Loans ▶ Bridge Loans ▶ Refinances / Purchases ▶ HELOCS / Lines of Credit ▶ FHA Loans ▶ VA Loan Programs ▶ Reverse Mortgages WE MAKE LOANS HAPPEN. From first-time homebuyers to seasoned real estate investors, we’ve got the tools to help with your financing goals. M O R T G AG E