In our fifth year in the Tennessee First Lego League, Our new role has succeeded beyond our expectations.

The Chattanooga Manufacturers Association joined with the Chattanooga Engineers Club again this year at promoting the First Lego League competition locally, and the Association of General Contractors and Coca-Cola also returned as sponsors. But this year's theme "Nano Quest" brought another local organization, eSpin Technologies, into a leadership role. Hosting the "local event" at his manufacturing plant in Enterprise South, Jay Doshi provided both information and inspiration.

The annual competition (December 2, 2006, at Tennessee Tech in Cookeville) has two major components. The first, a reaseach and presentation project on the year's theme, and the second, a problem-solving competition using a robot designed and programmed by the team members to solve a series of problems on a 4 foot by 8 foot work surface.

During this year's competition the three Chattanooga teams supported by the CEC and the Cleveland team (coached by Lora Jenkins and a participant in our local event) brought back an impressive collection of trophies and awards.

Tyner Middle Academy (The Tybots) scored Fourth in "Robot Performance", the highest score ever for a local team in the robotic challenge.

David Brainerd Christian School brought home trophies in "Championship" (overall performance), 5th place, and "Presentation", 3rd place. This is extraordinary for a first time team.

Cleveland Middle School (coached by two coaches, one of which was the Tybot coach for four years and supported by CEC) came in with three spectacular trophies. 2nd place in "Championship" (amazing for a first year team), 1st in "Presentation" (Lora did this in 2003 at Tyner), and 3rd in "Teamwork" (compared to 2nd in 2003, also by Lora). This is clearly performance that will set a bar for future performance.

The fourth local team, from CSAS, did extremely well, but did not get a trophy. This was also their first visit to Cookeville and I expect great things from them next year due to extraordinary parental support, which came "up to speed" in the last week of the competition.

The Lego program in previous years


This year we are joined by the following organizations which have provided support for registration, travel, and other direct expenses. These firms value the benefit of technical educations and the skills and values gained by the students that participate.












In addition, Hometown Threads in the Hamilton Place Wal-Mart has made a gift in kind, as they have for the last four years.