Contact: Tammy Lane • First Posted: Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Three robot-building teams from Jessie Clark Middle School will vie in state competition Jan. 14 at Western Kentucky University after faring well in the FIRST LEGO League’s regional tournament. Sixteen teams from Central Kentucky participated in the qualifier, with three others besides Jessie Clark’s also advancing to state.  

In the FLL’s 2011 Food Factor Challenge, students explore the topic of food safety and examine the possible points of contamination – from exposure to insects and other creatures, to unsterile processing and transportation, to unsanitary preparation and storage – then find ways to prevent or combat these contaminants.  

The teams build, test and program an autonomous robot using LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT to solve a series of food safety missions as well as research, develop and share their innovative solutions. Each team’s success is based on how well they represent and demonstrate the core values and how well they complete the robot game and project portions of the challenge.  

Regional results for the Jessie Clark teams advancing to state: 

• 3^rd place, Team Vader – Robot Performance Award: Alex Brinkhorst, Renner Clements, Mitchell Slavik and Jared Young.
• 4^th place, Team Yoda – Project Research Award: Jason Burke, Cager Garrett, Brennan Johnson and Joe Muschong.
• 5^th place, Team Leia – Robot Mechanical Design Award: Sophia Carlton, Alex Elias, Maya Elias, Kalie Estes and Erin Remley.

Additional honors from the Dec. 3 regional qualifier at the University of Kentucky: 

• Jessie Clark’s Team Skywalker – Core Values Gracious Professionalism Award: Tyler Ferry, Christian Helm, Sota Iida, Niklas Johnson and Hossein Zolfaghari. 
• Athens-Chilesburg Elementary’s KFC TOO  – Rising Star Award: Amit Lohe, Jonathan Erwin, Matthew Taulbee, Grant Atwell, Doug Vaughan, Stephen Trail, Anna Goulson, Kate Joseph, and ACE alumni Drake Witt and Logan Cooper. 
• Athens-Chilesburg Elementary’s  KFC – runner-up, Core Values Teamwork Award: Lucas Etter, Bentley Sanner, Christina Duvall, Eliza Sayers, Chase Dixon, Connor Lamb, Tanner Swift, C.T. Lee, Grant Dolen and ACE alumnus Nick Joseph.  
• Veterans Park Elementary – runner-up, Project Innovation Award: Michael Alaniz, Abbey English, Maxwell Napier, Jacob Meyer, Kennedy Gayheart, Patrick O’Brien, Seth Bullock and Sabrina Johnson. 

For more information about robotics opportunities in FCPS, contact technology resource teacher Leanna Prater.