On Jan. 9, the Corbin School of Innovation Engineers traveled to Hazard Community and Technical College to participate in the LEGO League Southeast Regional Qualifier, winning First Place Overall, First Place in Innovation and the Brandon Robinson Perseverance Award.
The team is made up of 5-8 graders at Corbin’s SOI, and is coached by Rachel Johnson and Loren Queener, both of whom are in the fourth season as coaches.
The Engineers have worked since this past fall on their presentation, which featured a theme of “archeology.” Student planned and built a robot designed to complete as many designated tasks as possible within 2.5 minutes. As part of the process, they received special feedback from engineers at the Aisin Automotive plant in Lily.
Students also had to solve a problem that archeologists may face in the field as part of the innovation competition requirement. They focused on marine archeology, which tied into a project from last year that focused on scuba diving. Team members planned, researched and designed a product that would keep marine archeologists safe while also preserving delicate underwater artifacts. For this part of the project, feedback was provided by members of the Kentucky Heritage Council, local meteorologist Shane Smith and former NASA employee and oceanographer Wendi Laurence.
“I am most proud of the innovation project and all of the research that we did to create it,” said fifth grader Zac Johnson.
Fellow fifth grader Gentree Bishop said, “Even though it was hard and we felt the pressure, in the end, no matter our scores, it all paid off.”
“I was most excited to show the judges what we invented and how it worked. I am most proud of winning regional and being able to go to the state competition,” added seventh grader Kraig Cuel.
