News : Lego League: VSMS 7th grade Pink Chicks team invited to State

The Pink Chicks will represent VSMS at the State Lego League contest in January.

Five lego teams from Ms. Tendick's Expanded Learning Program attended the First Lego League competition at Prairie Point Middle School on Saturday, December 8, 2012.

Those participating from Vinton-Shellsburg middle school were The Neon Tigers, The Honey Badgers, The Cobras, The Pink Chicks and The Viking Uprising teams.

This year's theme was "Senior Solutions." There are many challenges that seniors face today, such as lifting and balance, and teams were asked to meet those challenges by inventing or improving upon a product to make life easier for them and by designing and programming a robot that could perform several missions based on activities that become difficult with age.

At the competition, teams were judged in several categories. They included robot design, a project presentation, a core values presentation and three tables times in which each team attempted as many missions as they could with their robot. During the course of the day, judges were scoring teams in many areas, such as robot design, the amount of creativity and research students put into their projects, and how well group members functioned as a team. All the Vinton-Shellsburg middle school teams performed very well and three of the teams received awards in three different categories.

The 8th grade team, The Viking Uprising, received the Team Spirit Award for having a positive attitude throughout the competition. Those students are Rebecca M., Brittney C., Alex D., Ryan L. and Hunter G.

One of our 6th grade teams, The Honey Badgers, received an honorable mention for their senior project. Those students are Brianna L., Mady R., Anil K., Axl H., Seth P., Olivia C. and Nolan H.

Our 7th grade girls team, The Pink Chicks, received the Core Values award for teamwork and received an invitation to the state Lego competition in Ameson January 19, 2013. Those students are (bottom left to right) Sophie S., Madeline M., Olivia C., Baylee B., (back left to right) Ms. Tendick, Jenna L., Kamryn L., Alex M. and Rhianna T.

All the teams represented the Vinton-Shellsburg schools district very well and consistently displayed the Viking spirit as they competed throughout the day.

Ms. Tricia Tendick

HS & MS Expanded Learning Program Teacher