Kennebunk’s Water-Those? Robotics team members, coaches and family members were happy to be in Detroit for the world championships. SUBMITTED PHOTO
FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) LEGO League introduces students in grades 4 to 8 to real-world engineering challenges by inviting them to conduct research projects and build LEGO-based autonomous robots to complete tasks on a thematic playing surface.
This year’s challenge, Hydro Dynamics, required the students to identify and design a solution to solve a real-world problem involving the human water cycle. The eight Middle School of the Kennebunks students on Water-Those? spent the year researching an innovative solution to help address the lack of an easy and inexpensive way for property owners to detect the toxic chemical contaminant arsenic in drilled well water.
Their proposal for an arsenic biosensor test strip that could be sent out to residents in their annual tax bill received recognition from U.S. Sen. Angus King and U.S. Sen. Susan Collins.
They also designed, built, and programmed their robot to accumulate as many points as possible. Coach Jim Eickmann, Engineering Manager at Corning Life Sciences in Kennebunk, a long-time FLL coach and recipient of the RSU21 School Board’s 2017 Payson Hunter Award for outstanding service to students in the District, mentored the students throughout the year.
“Dr. Eickmann was very patient with us and was constantly asking us questions. He made us think about why we were doing what we were doing. I learned a lot from him,” said team-member Andrew Atwater.
With 40,000 people in attendance at the Cobo Center and Ford Field in Detroit, the kids, coaches, and parents felt the same heart pounding thrill as they would attending a professional sporting event. The teams displayed their team spirit with costumes and team uniforms. Water-Those? decided to make sure they were noticed as the team from Maine so they donned their lobster hats and decorated their pit area with lobsters, fishing nets, and traps.
“It was really fun to be walking through the Cobo Center or even in downtown Detroit and have people yell out ‘Hey Water-Those!’ Everyone seemed to know who we were,” said seventh-grader Maya Flores.
“We met people from all over the world. It was awesome! Our pit area was next to the team from Pakistan and by the time we left on Saturday, we were good friends with the whole team,” said team-member Sam Marquis, noting that they traded contact info and have all been in touch every day since they left.
Team members also enjoyed trading pins with all the other teams, handing out Maine magnets supplied by the Maine Office of Tourism, and had the thrill of trading team hats and jackets with teams from India, Pakistan, and Italy.
When Kennebunk High School graduate Margaux LeBlanc, now working in Detroit as an engineer for General Motors, learned her hometown team was heading to Detroit, she arranged for the students to have a very rare opportunity.
She and senior engineers as General Motors brought the students into the laboratory where they develop and test the battery packs for their hybrid and electric cars. [
“Spreading STEAM enthusiasm is one of my favorite things to do,” said Ms. LeBlanc, who also arranged for the kids to ride around in a Chevy Bolt and Volt. Ms. LeBlanc’s enthusiastic passion for science and engineering was inspirational and contagious.
That rare inside look into the work being done at General Motors may well be transformational for some of the students who attended. “Each opportunity a student is given is like a seed,” said Coach Steve Marquis, Principal of Sea Road School. “Who knows how the seeds planted during that tour may grow?”
The Kennebunk reunion was complete when RSU21 Student School Board Member Max LeBlanc (Margaux’s brother), and their father and former RSU21 School Board Member Art LeBlanc, arrived for a visit and joined the team for the end of the tour.
At the end of the competition, the team was nominated by the judges for four awards: Mechanical Design, Presentation, Inspiration, and Gracious Professionalism.
“All of the coaches are incredibly proud of our team. They worked very hard throughout the year and it showed in their final products. I am proudest of the way the kids interacted with the students, judges, and coaches from around the world and country. They were wonderful ambassadors for the State of Maine and representatives of the District,” said Coach Catherine Lindgren.
The team is grateful to its sponsors, Corning Life Sciences, the Education Foundation of the Kennebunks and Arundel, the RSU21 School Board, and all of the individual donors who helped make this trip possible.
Water-Those? Team Members – seventh- and eighth-graders from Middle School of the Kennebunks include Andrew Atwater, Cole Binette, Sophie Ferrick, Maya Flores, Cassie Mackenzie, Sam Marquis, Eamon McGlashan and Jacob Morris.
Water-Those? Team Coaches are Dr. Stephen Marquis, Dr. James Eickmann and Catherine Lindgren.
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