Inspiring Young Scientists & Engineers
Watch highlights from our 4th Annual FIRST LEGO League Robotics Scrimmage, and learn about the impact these events have on young scientists and engineers.
Published May 14, 2014
For the past four years the Academy's Education team has put together a variety of events that give young people a chance to share their science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) work. Bringing together students, family members, afterschool mentors, teachers, and STEM professionals, these events provide a unique platform for students to demonstrate their growing expertise, meet one another, and interact with professionals, while also having a lot of fun.
At Robotics Scrimmages, the Academy hosts teams from across the five boroughs of New York City who are part of the FIRST® LEGO® League. Teams come together for fierce but fun competition, pitting their robots against one another in challenges that sometimes mirror real-life challenges. This year's theme, "Nature's Fury," focused on cleaning up and mitigating the effects of natural disasters.
Another exciting aspect of the FIRST® LEGO® League competition is the research and engineering component, which asks students to come up with practical solutions to problems they might encounter. In 2012, the Bronx Task Force, a team from Good Shepherd Services' 45 Beacon School and one of the groups that participated in the Academy's scrimmage event that year, along with their nutrient-delivering coffee filters, ended up placing as here.