Big news from “The NXT Generation,” the FIRST Lego League team the Green Machine is mentoring this season! On Saturday December 13th, the NXT Generation attended its regional tournament at St. Louis Park Junior High School. The school was brimming with the excitement of young students as they competed for medals, plaques, and a chance to move onto the state tournament. First though, each team had to make it through tough judging on teamwork and technical know-how; a presentation comparing our community’s climate and climate-related issues to a similar community elsewhere in the world, and three competition rounds with their robot as part of the “Climate Connections” challenge. Doing well in each area was crucial to receiving an overall score that could place them within reach of advancing to the state tournament. Finally, after nine grueling hours of hard work and fun, it came time to announce the teams that would advance to state. After waiting with growing anticipation, the team was rewarded with the announcement that the NXT Generation would be one of the FLL teams who would be able to show off their newly polished skills at the State Tournament on Saturday January 24th at the University of Minnesota. For more information on FLL and the state tournament, visit the organizer’s website, High Tech Kids.
