Seisen Students Compete at the First Lego League Challenge

Seisen fielded two teams this past weekend for an event called First Lego League. Each day, different teams from across Japan competed. Many teams included members who were junior high or high school students. The teams from Seisen consisted of fourth and fifth graders. They tested their technical skills with robots in three matches. Each team also created an “innovation project” connected to archeology and presented a robot design.

The event was held at Horizon International School in Yokohama. One team went on Saturday, Dec. 13th, and one team went on Sunday, Dec. 14th. Saturday’s team was called Seisen Firebirds and included Mayra, Miyu, Serena, Swan, Ashwika, Kamalini, Lily and Shireen. Sunday’s team was called Seisen Phoenix and included Karin, Yo, Nia, Eva, Jyoti, Erlin, Sena and Isha.

Emotions ran high as each team tried to best their score from the previous match. It was the first time Seisen participated in the event. Here are some comments from students:

Mayra - “It was one of the best experiences of my life although it was challenging and really, really fun.”

Miyu - “It was a fun and really good experience for me and also for the team.”

Serena - “It was busy, but it was also fun.”

Swan - “It was a big experience for me because I learned about coding and how people used the Legos to design their own robots.”

Ashwika - “I learned about the basic codes and builds which really helped me along the way.”

Kamalini - “One thing that challenged our groups is when we had to do the missions since we didn’t have much time and had to work diligently and solve problems.”

Lily - “I learned a lot about archeology and the snake robot, and also that collaboration and leadership is really important.”

Shireen - “One thing that was challenging were some missions.”

Karin - “I remember having fun and a guy who was dressed up as one of the missions, the Silo Guy.”

Yo - “I learned I’m very shy when speaking in Japanese at a presentation.”

Nia - “It was good to see other team’s robots and see how they solved the mission.”

Eva - “It was surprising to see how different the other team’s robots and attachments were.”

Jyoti - “If I was going to do it again, I would talk more during the presentation to the judges.”

Erlin - “For me, it kind of made me feel I was truly part of the team and we could rise to the stars.”

Sena - “We were good at cooperation, because we shared our ideas and decided which one is better.”

Isha - “It was very fun when we did the robot game and everyone encouraged each other.”

A big shout out to all the participating students!

A big shout out to Mr. Musashi and Mr. Guy for helping the teams to prepare during a SASA this Fall.

A big shout out to the parents who came to Yokohama this weekend to support their children and the teams.

A big shout and thank you to Mr. Musashi and Ms. Smyth for devoting the majority of their weekend, Saturday and Sunday, to the students. Other teachers were there too, including Mr. Guy and Mr. Lewis.

The opportunity for students to collaborate, problem solve with technology, and be risk-taking leaders was invaluable and exciting. Perhaps you would like to give it a try next year?