Grandville High School to Host Largest Elementary Robotics Competition

GRANDVILLE, Mich., Nov. 20, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- This Saturday, hundreds of elementary school students will come together at Grandville High School to participate in the largest elementary robotics event in Michigan.  More than 70 teams will come to compete in the "World Class" FIRST Lego League competition and the "Think Tank" Jr FLL competition.

The Grandville High School RoboDawgs, that ONE team, and the Grandville Academic Team Boosters will host their annual Regional Qualifying Lego League Tournament and Jr FLL Showcase on Saturday, November 22 at Grandville High School (4700 Canal, Grandville).  The event will start at 9am, with robot competition and judging taking place through 2:45pm.  The awards ceremony will take place at 3:30pm.  Over the last nine years, this event has grown from a handful of teams to one of the largest events of its kind in the Midwest.  More than 3,500 students, parents, and spectators are expected to attend this year's tournament.

This tournament, held at Grandville High School, will bring together 50 FIRST Lego League teams and 27 Jr FLL teams from all over Michigan. 

Lego League teams, made up of fourth through eighth grade students, will compete for the right to advance to the Michigan State Tournament in December.  Teams will bring student-built robots to compete on the "World Class" playing field.  Their robots and programming will be reviewed by technical judges.  Teams will make research presentations, sharing the results of their research into issues related to extreme weather and their solutions to those problems. Teams will also compete in challenges designed to test their teamwork. To learn more about the WORLD CLASS Challenge, visit: http://www.firstlegoleague.org/challenge/2014fllworldclass

Jr Lego League teams, made up of kindergarten through third grade students, will participate in a Think Tank showcase.  This showcase will feature learning environments that teams explored through research, teamwork, construction, and imagination. Guided by adult Coaches, teams used LEGO® bricks to build a model that moves and develop a Show Me Poster to illustrate their ideas. To learn more about the Think Tank Challenge, visit: http://juniorfirstlegoleague.org/2014-jrfll-think-tank-challenge.html

The Grandville High School RoboDawgs are one of the United States' largest and most accomplished high school robotics teams.  Grandville Public Schools has been a leader in educational robotics for more than 16 years.  Beginning with one high school robotics team in 1998, the district's program has now grown to include more than 44 teams based at the District's Robotics & Engineering Center.  More than 700 students, from fourth through twelfth grades, participate on Grandville robotics teams, designing, building, and programming robotics for competitions around the world.  Grandville has one of largest Lego League programs in the country, with the District fielding 21 teams this year.  These students go on to compete in the District's VEX Robotics program at the middle school level, as well as the FIRST Robotics competition and the Great American River Race at the high school level.  Team members build quadcopters and underwater rovers for high school competitions in the Midwest.  This year, the RoboDawgs' high-altitude balloon program is expected to achieve long distance sustained flight through neutral buoyancy for the first time.

For more information, contact RoboDawg Head Coaches:  Mike Evele – Email (616) 916-0300 or Doug Hepfer – Email (616) 540-3239

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141120/159953
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141120/159952

SOURCE Grandville High School RoboDawgs