This blog post was contributed by AmeriCorps member Emma Reim. Emma serves as the youth preparedness coordinator for the Cascades Region of the Red Cross and works to increase youth preparedness across Oregon and Southwest Washington. 

FIRST®
LEGO® League (FLL) is a team engineering and science program for 9 to 14 year olds, and a fun way to expose youth to technical creativity. One part of the program involves teams using LEGO kits to program an autonomous robot to complete different tasks. If that wasn’t a challenge enough, teams must also develop an innovative solution that falls under the theme of the “FLL Challenge.” In previous years, the Challenges have included Senior Solutions, developing ideas to help seniors, and Food Factor, thinking about how to keep food safe. Teams must research the science behind the Challenge and talk to experts in the field. For this year’s theme, Nature’s Fury, teams had to design a solution that would help prepare for a disaster, keep people or animals safe during a disaster, or rebuild after a disaster.

FLL teams around Oregon began contacting the American Red Cross at all stages of the competition. We shared our knowledge with them and answered their questions about preparedness and disaster response. We spoke at FLL events at Intel and at the FLL Oregon State Championships. It was a pleasure to work with the FLL teams and it was clear to us that their interest and passion fueled their ideas. All teams displayed the FLL Core Values, including Gracious Professionalism® and Coopertition®, throughout the time we worked with them. From Jan. 18-19, teams competed in the State FLL Championships. Following our teams’ progress was an exciting and rewarding experience. One team, Born 2 Build, which had presented their ideas at the Oregon Trail Chapter, won 3rd place overall. Congratulations to all FLL teams!

 For complete results and more information on FLL: http://www.ortop.org/fll/.