Ann Arbor Christian School Takes Judges Award at State Finals for FIRST LEGO League Project

Posted: Dec 6, 2011 at 2:51 PM [Dec 6, 2011]

Ann Arbor Christian School students' FIRST LEGO League team impressed judges at Saturday's state finals when they presented Germ Juice, a unique technology that addresses the problem of illness spread through improper hand washing by food service workers.  They were the only school in Ann Arbor to qualify for State Championships, and they brought home a trophy.

            This year, there were 300 FIRST LEGO League (FLL) teams in Michigan, all of whom had to complete projects in three areas:  1) Robot games with robots programmed to perform certain challenges, 2) A science project with an original solution to an unsolved problem on this year's theme of "food safety", and 3) team work presentation on FLL's core values of Gracious ProfessionalismÔ and CoopertitionÔ.

            The 300 FLL teams competed in six regional tournaments with only 48 teams qualifying for the FLL Michigan State Championships.  This was Ann Arbor Christian School's first year with FLL and their Brick Warrior team not only won the Judges Award at the regional tournament, but was also the only team from Ann Arbor to qualify for the State Championships. The Brick Warrior's project of using glow in the dark Germ Juice with black light and sensor band technology to address the problem of illness spread through improper hand washing by food workers won high marks with the judges.

            The team from Ann Arbor Christian School was elated to again be presented the Judges Award at the State Championships, which is awarded to a team whose unique efforts, performance, or dynamics merit special recognition from the judges. Coached by Dan Michele and Elaine Wong, the team of 4th - 7th graders are: Jenna Allman, Mathew Clark, Justin Michele, Robert Royce, Eli Schrez, Sam Vivacqua, Jessica Wong, and Leilani Wong.