T-R FILE PHOTO In 2023, the Miller Middle School team made it to the state FIRST LEGO League competition. This year, Emerson is sponsoring two FIRST LEGO League teams, and will host a question and answer session at Marshalltown Public Library on Saturday.

Youth not attending the Marshalltown public school system will get a chance this year to join the FIRST LEGO League competition.

A crew from Emerson is hosting a FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) LEGO League challenge question and answer session at Marshalltown Public Library on Saturday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Emerson employees Sarah Witte, Yan Qui, Nathan Vaughn and Alice Chen are leading the charge to open the program to youth who have not been able to participate.

“We hope to open this to the community, to students who have not been exposed to the program,” Witte said. “We want to raise awareness of it to the community and get as many people as possible to sign up and participate.”

Qui said by Emerson sponsoring the teams, they can reach children who are homeschooled, attend private school, are not in the Marshalltown Community School District XLP program or attend a public district without a league.

“They have not had the opportunity to join a FIRST LEGO League,” he said.

Children ages 6 to 10 can join the Explore team, and ages 9 to 16 can join the Challenge team. Witte said they also wanted to open the opportunity to elementary-age youth.

“We wanted to bring the Explore age into this,” she said.

The Explore team members will create a poster and LEGO model that moves. Chen was thrilled when she learned about the Emerson sponsorship for younger children.

“The kids have so much fun,” she said. “I do not know of many things for Marshalltown youth ages 4 to 10. When I heard about the age group, I was very excited about it.”

The theme for the FIRST LEGO League is different every year, and this time it is “Submerged.” Teams will work together to design ways to explore the ocean.

Witte said the Challenge team members will build a robot with LEGOs, research a topic and make the presentation to judges. The Challenge participants will face with three parts – the Robot Game, the Innovation Project and the FIRST Core Values. Qui said team members will think about and create a concept, and they will be judged as a team on that innovation. In the Robot Game, judges will look at the design and how the team used the FIRST Core Values – Discovery, Inclusion, Innovation, Teamwork, Impact and Fun.

This will not be Qui’s first time working with LEGO League teams. He began mentoring the robotics challenge for Marshalltown High School students in 2017.

“We had three teams from Marshalltown last year,” Qui said.

A team from Miller Middle School – the Miller Game Changers – qualified for the state league competition in 2023.

The role of the Emerson crew is to answer questions and provide guidance and direction. The activities in the challenge will be up to the team.

“It is up to the kids to develop the idea,” Qui said. “If evidence is found a mentor contributed to the idea, the team is disqualified. The teams need to make decisions and exact plans, grow their skills and achieve their goals.”

Witte said they can only have up to six Explore and 10 Challenge members, and will select participants in mid-September. If more children are interested than what the teams limit, she said they will have tryouts. The teams will meet for a couple hours every week.

The benefits for children participating in the League are apparent to the Emerson crew. Vaughn said he is a huge supporter of the program and has seen kids work as a team, exhibit the FIRST Core Values, solve problems and celebrate their successes while having fun.

“I think it’s a great experience to take into the workforce,” he said. “It’s definitely a leg up. There are a lot of scholarship opportunities that are automatic just by being involved.”

Witte has seen participants’ positive attitudes while doing the work, and even talking about it afterward.

“It is really rewarding to see their faces light up and talk about their experiences with the program,” she said. “The bonds they make are something special and it’s honestly some of the most fun they will ever have.”

LEAGUE Q&A INFORMATION:

Where: Marshalltown Public Library

Address: 105 W. Boone St., Study Room 1

Date: Saturday

Time: 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

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Contact Lana Bradstream

at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or

lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.