Panther engineering and robotics team paves pathways to innovation – Clay County Free Press.com (subscription)

Left -to- right, Maggie Smith, Isaac Brown, Madison Paxton, Brogan Rapp, Coen Neal and Dylan McCumbers.

First Lego League Jr. (FLL Jr.) is the first level of three international robotics programs. In FLL Jr., children ages 6-10 are challenged to solve a real 21st Century world problem using research and problem solving skills. The other portion of their project consists of constructing a robotic model that has a simple machine and motorized piece. FLL Jr. urges young people to approach problems creatively, find unique solutions, and to work together.

The program gets young people thinking like innovators, and it provides a great structural foundation for the other competitive programs offered by FIRST Robotics such as FIRST Lego League (ages 9-14), FIRST Tech Challenge (ages 12-18), and FIRST Robotics Competition (ages 14-18).

Dylan McCumbers, Madison Paxton, Maggie Smith, Isaac Brown, Cohen Neal, and Brogan Rapp formed the local FLL Jr. team. Their coaches are Michelle Paxton and Carrie McCumbers. This group of driven and talented individuals goes by the name of Clay County Panther Engineering.

Being the first team to participate in an elementary robotics program from Clay County can be difficult, but luckily Clay County Panther Engineering received support from many sources. Their registration fee was paid by a grant.

Michael Shamblin, Extension agent with the WVU Extension service in Clay County, served as a guest speaker on the focus of this years challenge, the honey bee. He brought beekeeping equipment and a queen bee, which resulted in an incredibly informative and exciting presentation. Shamblin also loaned the group WeDo robotics sets and laptop computers so that they could have more motorized parts in their model and better access to the programming software.

As someone who has also been aiding and rooting along the side lines for the Clay County Panther Engineering team, teacher Claire Wayne says she is happily hoping and anticipating that some of these students will choose to move up the ranks, and form a FIRST Lego League team or continue to pursue educational opportunities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

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Panther engineering and robotics team paves pathways to innovation - Clay County Free Press.com (subscription)