Weeks of research and design will culminate in the FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) LEGO League (FLL) Long Island Championship Tournament on Sunday, February 28. Sponsored by School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc. (SBPLI), this event will take place at Longwood High School, where 400 Long Island middle school children will demonstrate their problem-solving skills, creative thinking, teamwork, competitive play, sportsmanship and sense of community.

In order to earn a spot as one of the 40 teams competing in the Championships, students first participated in one of four FLL Qualifiers held at Mineola High School and Central Islip High School in late January and early February. During those events, a total of 150 Long Island teams competed for an opportunity to advance to the championship tournament.

The theme of this year’s competition is TRASH TREK℠, which tasked the more than 230,000 students from nearly 80 countries around the world with discovering the hidden (or not-so-hidden) world of trash. Teams have to program their LEGO MINDSTORMS® robots to solve a number of missions on an obstacle course set on a thematic playing surface. Game missions include demolishing a building and salvaging valuable materials from the debris, converting organic material into fertilizer and reusing methane produced in a landfill to power a truck and/or factory.

For the TRASH TREK Challenge, FIRST LEGO League collaborated with organizations such as LEGO Education, the Environmental Protection Agency, Waste Management, Captain Planet Foundation and Pratt Industries, among others, to create a theme and develop challenge missions that reflect real-world issues.

The FLL competition is judged in three areas: project, robot design, and FLL Core Values, which embody aspects of teamwork and good sportsmanship. Top robot game scores are also honored.

FLL is an international program for nine- to 14-year-olds created in a partnership between FIRST and the LEGO Group in 1998 to get students excited about science and technology – and teach them valuable career and life skills. Using LEGO MINDSTORMS® technologies and LEGO Education materials, children work alongside adult mentors to design, build and program autonomous robots and create an innovative solution to a problem as part of their research project. After eight intense weeks, the competition season culminates at high-energy, sports-like tournaments. Like any other organized “sport,” teams also fundraise, create a team identity and go on field trips.

“We are very excited about this year’s theme,” explains Stephanie Stern, SBPLI’s FLL Affiliate Partner. “It not only aligns with SBPLI’s mission of increasing interest in science and technology at a very young age, but also helps draw attention to the pollution problems that the world is facing. I’m looking forward to seeing the excitement of the teams at the competition, as well as the solutions they develop for the challenge.”

Some of the teams competing in the Long Island Championship will also have the opportunity to participate at the FLL World Festival, to be held in conjunction with the FIRST Championship, from April 27 to 30, 2016, at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis. Other teams will be invited to compete at the FLL Open Championship at LEGOLAND in Carlsbad, California in May 2016.

For a list of the area schools and youth organizations with teams participating in the SBPLI FLL Long Island Championship, see the attached page. In the event of inclement weather, the event will be rescheduled. Participating teams are listed below.

The Championship Tournament is sponsored by School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc. (SBPLI) and the Longwood Central School District. The high school where the event is being held is located at 100 Longwood Road in Middle Island, New York.

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TEAMS PARTICIPATING IN FIRST LEGO LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT

Team #

Team Name

Location

92

Sea Lions

Seaford

185

Radical Robots

Bayport

237

Plainview Thunder Hawks

Plainview

420

Floral Park Unikitties

Floral Park

684

STOBOR

Syosset

1087

BRAINSTORMERS

Bayport

1200

Unlimited Thinkers

New Hyde Park

2182

Longwood Middle School Dakers

Middle Island

2183

Longwood Jr. High Jannsen

Middle Island

2774

JFK Trash Bandits

Terryville

4452

Robo-Chiefs

Massapequa

4454

Berner Bison Bots

Massapequa

6116

Rocky Point Robo Eagles

Rocky Point

6435

GearHeadz

Rocky Point

8621

LEGO Chicks

Garden City

8770

Mineola Motors Squared

Mineola

8838

Robo Rangers

Garden City

8840

Regal Robotics

Garden City

9406

Harborfields Library LEGO Minions

centerport

10425

Harborfields Library Purple LEGO Eaters

centerport

10932

Robotic Avengers

Smithtown

11293

Progressive School Lego Jedis

Merrick

11362

Katamari Squad

Stony Brook

11649

Rebels Fury

Great Neck

15067

RoboFalcons

Jericho

15487

Dawnwood1

Centereach

15488

Dawnwood2

Centereach

15489

Dawnwood3

Centereach

15755

The Harborfields  Library "At Your Disposal"

Centerport

15794

Cyber Dogs

Roslyn

16174

Meteorites

Hicksville

16282

Party Bots 2.0

Floral Park

16286

The Humanoids

Lake Grove

16316

Tired of Waste

Oyster Bay

16719

Tornadoes 16

Greenlawn

20831

Weber Middle School

Port Washington

21053

Octopi

Greenlawn

21281

AfterShock 3.0

Holtsville

22558

Ludicrous LEGO Builders

East Williston

22698

POBMS  POBOTS OMEGA 2.0

Plainview