The school’s Lego Robotics team is one of the eight teams of the 28 that went to Regionals that will advance on to the state tournament on March 3 at the University of Central Florida.

Only 48 of the 503 Florida Lego teams will earn the privilege of competing at this level.

“It was surprising at first because there wasn’t any callbacks,” seventh-grade Michael W. said. “When we first heard [that we were going to state], it was like ‘Is that us?’ and then we were screaming and yelling.”

The competitions for Lego Robotics consist of three main parts: construction, research and presentation.

Part one is building the robot and trying to complete as many missions as possible in two and a half minutes.

Part two is the research project that the kids do and then present, for this year the topic for the research was senior solutions. The Lego Robotics team interviewed seniors and came up with a problem that they would focus on, which was isolation. The team came up with using Bright House to be a way to talk to people face to face over Internet and it would be like flipping channels, making it easier for seniors. They then interviewed Bright House people and came up with possible ideas to make this happen.

Part three is presenting to the judges without the help of adults, completing missions with their robot and answering questions about the project.

“Competition, while it is exciting it is draining,”  freshman Jeremy Gluck said. “It takes a lot of energy out of you.”

Even those who were not able to make it because of science fair found out almost instantly.

“I wasn’t there, so I texted one of the coaches and found out we didn’t get any upper awards or trophies but I was like ‘So what? We are going to state,’” seventh-grader Noah W. said.

The West Shore Lego Robotics team is sponsored by math teacher Jill Whitacre.

By Shilo Toland