Zach Hufnagel did it for the team building. Wyatt Hefner likes programing. Oliva Miller did it because she thought it would be fun to meet new people. Whatever the reason, dozens of kids gathered from around the Four Corners on Saturday at Escalante Middle School to engage in a worldwide event designed to help young people think creatively about solutions and compassionately about teamwork.
Eleven teams of kids from ages 9 to 14 built Lego robots and collaborated on creative research projects Saturday about how to best help humans survive in space. These teams have been working since August to design and code Lego robots to do certain tasks, like move an object a certain distance or lift an object to a certain height.
The qualifying event, put on by an international organization called For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, has been held in Durango for at least 10 years, said Donitza Ivanovich, education director with the Powerhouse Science Center and an organizer of the event.
“The main point is that they can work as a team and help support other teams,” Ivanovich said. “If we just get two or three kids going into robotics, then I feel like we did our part.”
One of those children could be Logan Guriele, a student at Escalante Middle School. Logan said a friend first invited him to get involved when he was in fourth grade, so when he started at Escalante, it only seemed natural that he would join the team.
“I’ve learned a lot about collaboration and teamwork and how to work with people and value people’s opinions,” Logan said.
The youngsters are tested three different ways: how many obstacles they can complete with a Lego robot they programed; a creative research project to solve a problem; and an activity designed to evaluate how well teams work together. The three best teams will get a chance to prove their skills in Denver at states in two weeks.
Deliah Zink from Bayfield said she started on a team to get to know her friends more.
“A challenge was definitely trying to get involved without talking over each other,” Deliah said of the teamwork activity.
Uriah Phillips learned to respect her teammates. Aelonia Davis learned to respect other people’s ideas. Everest Shubert didn’t learn anything new this year – he’s been doing this for a few years now – but he does it for the fun.
Kari Marsh, a coach for the Bayfield team, said that she has enjoyed watching her team develop and grow closer together.
“They’ve come a long way,” Marsh said. “They started as a disjointed team and they really came together.”
bhauff@durangoherald.com
