This past Sunday the LigerBots had a fun day in the sun, with bicycles and robots! We talked with many cyclists of all ages at our booth on the lawn of Newton City Hall during the Tour de Newton, an annual bicycling event at which families ride in groups around the entire city. Kids swarmed the robot, and before long we had a line of children waiting to drive the robot and catch the ball. We also had a chance to promote our upcoming FLL Info Night.

On Wednesday evening parents and kids joined the LigerBots at Newton North High School for our annual informational evening about how to start and maintain an FLL team. (FIRST LEGO League is a LEGO robotics program for kids age 10 to 14. FLL Jr. is a project-based program for kids between the ages of 6 and 10.)  LigerBots coaches and team members gave a slideshow and talk to explain FIRST and FLL to parents in a packed NNHS lecture hall. LigerBots sponsor Empow Studios sent two representatives, including the company’s founder, to speak about the Empow Studios FLL program.

Meanwhile, LigerBots team members kept the kids engaged in the hallway with demos and activities, including paper airplane construction, Snap Circuits, coloring, molding crayons, spaghetti-and-marshmallow tower construction, brush bots, and button making.

Joining us was Jr. FLL team Aqua Brick, with student members from Franklin Elementary School, whose great project and presentation helped generate parent interest in the FLL Jr. program.

The LigerBots were also proud to host the Day Dragons, an FLL team of students from Day Middle School whose hard work this year took them all the way to the FLL World Championship in Detroit. Our FLL Info Night two years ago was the spark that ignited their team. This year they helped bring FLL to life for the families at Info Night by demonstrating their robot on a 2017 FLL field.

The children were so engaged that they had to be wrestled away from our activities by their parents at the end of the evening. We had 21 parents express interest in finding, founding, or expanding an FLL or Jr. FLL team. There are already three new teams being formed! The LigerBots will be following their progress and lending a hand where we can.

If you are interested in FLL or Jr. FLL and want to get in on all the excitement, or have any questions, the presentation we gave can be found here. Feel free to contact us directly at [email protected], or visit our website for more information.

Last Monday, the LigerBots held our annual awards night to celebrate the team’s year. Parents and sponsors were invited to a potluck dinner in a beautifully decorated Newton South cafeteria. During the after-dinner ceremonies, the mentors got a standing ovation, and students were given unique awards based on their year-long contribution. Everybody got their medals for making it to finals in the Greater Boston District Event last April.

The distinguished students (and their respective awards) were, in no particular order, Mark: “Stepping Up” for most improvement; Samy: “Wizard of Wiring,” for all her work on the electrical component of the robot, Matthew H.: “For the Good of the Order,” for organizing scouting at competitions: Jiaming: “Outstanding Player,” for all his work fixing machines in our wood and metal shop; Misha: “Stepping Up,” for most improvement; Arushi: “Exceptional Leadership,” for being a fantastic technical leader; Ali: “Rookie Inspiration,” for his hard work on many projects;  Douglas: “Gracious Professionalism” for his work on the Chairman’s Award submission, Ian: “Lifetime Achievement,” for his four years of contributions to the team: Vivek: “Cooperation,” for being a good team player, Jordan Y.: “For the Good of the Order” for organizing scouting, Sophia: “Recruitment” for her success in bringing new team members onboard; Asa: “Outstanding Leadership,” for his willingness to work on any project, and AJ: “Rookie All-Star,” for doing so much work her first year.

Cameron, Ian, and Doug were also honored for their service as team executives during  2017/18.

Mentors Greer and Pam were given awards for their outstanding work with the team this past year. Thanks to coach Kraus for organizing our awards night!

Even though we are in the middle of final exams, the LigerBots have two outreach events during the week coming up. On Sunday, June 17 we will be at a station near Newton City Hall from 9:00-12:00 during the Tour de Newton bicycling event. On Wednesday, June 20, we will host an information night for parents and children interested in joining the FIRST LEGO League program for children in grades 4-8. This will be held in the Newton North High School Film Lecture Hall from 7:00-8:30. There will be lots of information for parents about how to start an FLL team, and there will be fun activities for their children. Please join us at these events!

During late May the LigerBots marched in Newton’s Memorial Day parade, met with our mayor, and attended several outreach events, all while wrapping up the school year.

We walked in the Newton Memorial Day parade in the cold rain, with our 2016 and 2018 robots covered in plastic bags when it drizzled, to protect their electronic components. Our team crossed the finish line at Magni-Coletti Park, tossing a ball into Mayor Fuller’s hands with our 2016 robot and collecting our Cabot’s ice-cream reward. It was cool to see all the people who came out in support of the veterans, even with the terrible New England weather!

We had another opportunity to meet with Mayor Fuller a week later when more than fifteen LigerBots students met with her in her office at Newton City Hall so she could congratulate us on our achievements this season. She also encouraged the girls on our team to run for leadership positions. She wore an orange dress to advocate for gun violence awareness, which coincidentally coordinated very well with our orange tie-dye t-shirts! We thanked Mayor Fuller for her generous contributions to the team, both personal and city-wide, and gave her a packet of information about the LigerBots.

During post-season we do a lot of outreach events. This week we attended the ECIA Conference and Newton South Science Day. We brought our 2016 robot to the ECIA (Electronic Components Industry Association) conference at the Westin Waltham Boston hotel and spoke about the FIRST organization with about 80 people in the robotics and electronic manufacturing industries, some of which were from companies that supply parts we have on our robot. They enjoyed driving the robot and catching the ball it throws.

At Newton South Science Day, a fair that showcases student science projects, we demonstrated our robot for our fellow students at Newton South High School. The students were very eager to take photos of our robot!

Please look for us in June when we do more outreach in our community: at the Weston Field School on June 9 in a demo for elementary school students, at Newton Highlands Village Day on June 10 from 11a.m. -4 p.m., at the Tour de Newton bicycling event on June 17 from 9 a.m. -1 p.m., and at our own FIRST LEGO League Info Night, at Newton North High School on June 20 from 7-9 p.m.

We recently held annual elections for the three general leadership positions on our team: the chief operating officer (COO), the chief technical officer (CTO), and the chief marketing officer (CMO). Eleven people made speeches advocating their strengths and responded to questions from the team about how they would handle the the tasks that would come with the positions. From among these the team chose three students that we know will do a great job of helping to run our team next school year.

We wished farewell to our seniors as they graduated from Newton North on Wednesday and from South on Thursday. We will miss them dearly and wish them the best in their college careers. It was a treat to have Mayor Fuller make a generous acknowledgment of the LigerBots in her speech at the graduation, saying we were a team she had learned a lot from.

All in all, May has been a wonderful month for us!

The LigerBots are hosting a FIRST® LEGO® League (FLL) information night at the Newton North Film Lecture Hall at Newton North High School (457 Walnut Street) on June 20th from 7 – 9 pm.

The event will include a talk for parents, and activities for children.

Newton’s Day Dragon’s FLL team will be demonstrating their robot.

Any questions email [email protected]. FLL immerses teams of up to 10 students, ages 9 – 14 (grades 4 – 8), in real-world scientific and technological problems such as food safety or recycling. See our website FLL page for more information. Free and open to the public.

The annual LigerBots Awards Night is coming up Monday June 11 at 6PM in the Newton South Cafeteria. This will include a potluck dinner for all LigerBots and their families. Please sign up here:
https://www.perfectpotluck.com/MNJE2228
with the food you will be bringing.

All LigerBots and their families are encouraged to attend. LigerBots Alumni are definitely invited.