By Lisa Morales - Our Lady of the Lakes School
Our Lady of the Lakes' 8th Grade Robotics Team hold up the fourth place trophy they won at the Florida First Robotics Competititon. Front row, from left: Vicente Tome, Michael Gonzalez, Luis Victores, Alexa Gonzalez, Sofia Kunkel, Agatha Zapata, Isabella Cardoso, Michael Sanchez; back row: Sebastiaan Bak.
MIAMI LAKES | Eighth grade students from Our Lady of the Lakes School captured fourth place at the Florida First Robotics Competition held at The Benjamin School in North Palm Beach last month. They also won the top award for “core values,” an aspect of the competition that looks at things such as team spirit, inclusion, respect and friendly competition.
The event was the South Florida Regional Qualifying Tournament, part of the FIRST LEGO League program by First Inspires. The 8th Grade Robotics Competition Team will now advance to the South Florida Regional Tournament at Boynton Beach High School on Saturday, Feb. 25.
Students who participated were: Sebastiaan Bak, Michael Sanchez, Isabella Cardoso, Michael Gonzalez, Alexa Gonzalez, Sofia Kunkel,Vicenté Tomé, Agatha Zapata, and Luis Victores.
“I was impressed by the students’ faith throughout the competition,” said Kristina Bacallao, STREAM coordinator for OLL (Science, Technology, Religion, Engineering, Arts, and Math) and technology teacher for grades 5-8. “We were the only Catholic school at the competition. Right before the robot portion of the competition, the students gathered in the middle of the room and prayed to the Holy Spirit for guidance. Also, the students created a cue word to use when feeling overwhelmed or beginning to argue. The chosen word was 'pickles' and whenever anyone said it, they would all make the Sign of the Cross. This cue helped them re-center and focus.”
In order to prepare for the competition, the students met many times each week. They would check that their robot could perform a variety of tasks within the designated time frame of the competion, 2.5 minutes. They also created a presentation proposing an innovative solution to a problem between a human and animal interaction. The team chose to focus on the decrease in the honeybee population due to human factors. They created a kit that could be sold to individuals, communities, and schools to help create gardens that increase pollination opportunities for honey bees.
“Our Lady of the Lakes is committed to becoming a STREAM school,” said Bacallao. “Students in grades 6-8 can take robotics within the regularly scheduled day and students in grades 1-5 are offered an afterschool enrichment course.”
Our Lady of the Lakes also is in the process of transforming
the computer lab into a Makerspace room where students are encouraged to learn
through creation. Here, students will learn the design process, engineering,
robotics, video game design, movie-making and more. The school has raised $13,590 for this project so far through Give
Miami Day.
