Carson City Rotarians Donate to Eagle Valley Middle School LEGO Robotics Team
Submitted by Kelsey Penrose on Sat, 03/23/2024 - 3:13pm
Eagle Valley Middle School LEGO Robotics team got a big boost from the Rotary Club of Carson City this week. The team recently won the state championship and is the only team from Nevada to be invited to the World Festival in Houston, Texas. Rotary Club members donated $3,000.00 to help defray travel expenses.
The team, called the Metallic Eagles, is a mix of 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. The students participate in FIRST LEGO League. Every year FIRST Robotics provides a theme and gameboard. This year the theme focused on the arts and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math). The students were asked to identify how they could use STEAM to help others do the things that they love to do. “Our team identified that their favorite thing to do is to cook,” said STEM teacher Kimberly Tucker. “They identified that physical disabilities can prevent people from being able to safely cook. They designed and built their own working prototypes out of LEGO and household items that support people with disabilities to cook safely.”
Rotary Club of Carson City President says the donation fits into the Rotary values. “We support education and especially the education of young people,” he said. “There’s no more important value than ensuring that our kids have every opportunity to better themselves and further their educational opportunities. Rotary is here to bridge that gap.”
Tucker adds that the students learn many valuable lessons from these competitions. “The students are learning problem solving, critical thinking, team work, communication, engineering, and programming. Plus, they have fun while they are learning these key Career and Technical Education skills.”
The World LEGO Robotics takes place April 17 -20, 2024. To learn more about the Rotary Club of Carson City and its community projects visit carsonrotary.org
