In December, fourth through eighth-grade students from Lindbergh Schools attended the FIRST LEGO League qualifier at the Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School (MICDS). The team of nine students, called the Ultimate Uncoverers, earned first place for the FIRST Core Values award.

The LEGO League program is put on by the organization FIRST, which hopes to “spark curiosity and confidence in young minds” by giving them access to hands-on STEM experiences. Each year, the LEGO League event has a different theme: this year, it was “unearthed,” which incorporated aspects of excavation and archaeology.  

Jackson DeBuhr was one of two coaches who worked with Lindbergh students for 8-12 weeks ahead of the competition. The students built a LEGO robot that was able to complete “missions” at the competition table within two and a half minutes. This event is called Robot Games.

“These missions could be lifting up part of the LEGO model on the table, or you move things from place to place — that kind of stuff,” DeBuhr said. 

There was also the Robot Design Presentation, where the students talked to judges about the thought, planning and process that went into creating their robot. Then came the Innovation Project, where the team researched and put together a project about archaeology to connect with the competition’s theme. 

While the team from Lindbergh didn’t win in those categories, their FIRST Core Values award honors their “gracious professionalism,” teamwork, inclusivity and other such skills. 

“They don’t want people who can just build a robot and build it really well, and be a bad sport,” DeBuhr said. “They don’t want people like that. It’s important later in life, when you’re in a career like this, to work with everybody and solve problems together.”