Drumlin Heights Eagles preparing to fly off to LEGO world championship

By Tina Comeau

THE VANGUARD

NovaNewsNow.com

A team of students at Drumlin Heights Consolidated School in Yarmouth County is hoping to build on the success they had at provincials when they head to Atlanta, Georgia this month to compete at a world LEGO robotics competition.

The Drumlin Heights Energized Eagles are among 84 teams from 30 countries heading to worlds. The team earned this right after winning the First LEGO League International event held at Acadia University last fall.

It was the second consecutive year the team won at the provincial level, in what is only the second year the robotics program has been running at the school.

The competition involves challenges and missions surrounding energy, including solar energy, wind turbines, hydrogen cars, hydro-dams, solar-powered satellites and more. The robot performance portion is just one aspect of the competition. Teams are also judged on their teamwork, research and presentation.

In preparing for the worlds, teacher advisor Jamie Benham says the team has been fine-tuning their provincial entry.

“You see something that maybe works better,” he explains, adding the team feels more confident heading into worlds than it did at provincials because it has had more time to prepare and also has experience to fall back on.

“The longer they’ve had to prepare, the better it’s gotten,” he says. “They also saw designs other kids used at the provincial level.”

Team member Ben Scott laughs, saying they’ve “borrowed” some of the ideas they saw. One area they’ve improved is the arm of their robot.

Also, the last time around the team didn’t have time to present its project and findings to the community, which is also a component to the competition. They accomplished this task during the recent Tri-County school board regional science fair.

Aside from Scott, other members of the team include Ally Greene, Daniel d’Entremont, Vickie d’Entremont, Clinton Crowell and Shane d’Eon.

Getting to Atlanta isn’t cheap – the expense is in the range of $14,000 – so the team has had to fundraise and solicit donations from businesses, groups and corporations. Throughout the process they’ve had good support. One example of the support they’ve received is from Coastal Financial Credit Union, which has provided funding. But Sharon LeBlanc, an administrative support representative, says they decided to go one step further by outfitting the team with sports bags and track suits so they’ll stand out during the competition.

“We have a youth strategy committee and we’re getting involved with the schools and volunteering at different things…it’s just part of our community-mindedness,” LeBlanc says. “We were aware of this team and we said wouldn’t it be nice if we could do something to help identify them, because it is a big thing, it doesn’t happen every year.”

The students depart for the world competition on April 16 and their excitement is building – Greene is counting the days left before worlds down to the hour their plane departs. The plane ride itself is also exciting for the students since many of them have never been on a plane before.