UCC hosts Munster finals of LEGO League
Students and teachers from five schools across Munster gathered in University College Cork (UCC) on Saturday, 27 January for the Cork region finals of the FIRST LEGO League.
St Colman’s College, Fermoy were one of the participating teams, in an event that offered a fun way to engage STEM, weaving soft skills into real world scenarios that require coding, researching and presentations across four judging criteria.
A major global programme that introduces science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) to secondary school children through fun, hands-on learning, the FIRST LEGO League challenges young people to design, build and programme robots using LEGO.
Students were judged across four areas, for presenting on an Innovation Project, discussing their Robot Design and Strategy, performing at the Robot Game and demonstrating Core Values. The FIRST® LEGO® League is a collaboration between LearnIT, the UCC School of Engineering, and Engineers without Borders Student Society, with the direct support from Qualcomm.
The Fermoy secondary school was competing against fellow Cork secondary schools Gaelcholáiste Mhuire, A.G.; Scoil Mhuire gan Smál, Blarney; Christian Brothers College and Coláiste Daibhéid. Teams of students competed in the event following workshops facilitated by staff from UCC’s School of Engineering and Architecture, an impressive volunteer team from Qualcomm and LearnIT, and students from the Engineers without Borders Society.
The Brickbusters of Scoil Mhuire from Blarney were selected as the team to represent Cork in the All-Ireland final in Dublin.
'LEADERS OF TOMORROW'
Dr Emanuel Popovici, School of Engineering and Architecture, thanked those involved.
“Congratulations to the winners and all the participants. The enthusiasm and talent displayed by these students today captivated us all. They are the budding engineers and STEM leaders of tomorrow who will solve society’s biggest challenges. We are grateful to Qualcomm for their sponsorship, support and providing staff volunteers, as well as LearnIT and Engineers without Borders Society for their efforts in organising this fantastic event and handson workshops".