By Brooke Tidwell, Media Relations Specialist
Chickasaw Nation Media Relations Office
Blockhead team members received medals for participating in the LEGO League Tri-State Regional tournament in Canyon, Texas, December 6. Back row, from left: Jason Folsom, Josh Tingle, Thirkiel Wedlow, Jordan Stick-Greenwood and Mikayla Hook. Front row, from left: Patrick Cooke, Brendan Anoatubby, Savannah Weems and Bailee McCurdy.
Forty eight teams from Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas gathered at the West Texas A&M University campus in Canyon, Texas, to display problem-solving and creative thinking skills during the LEGO League regional tournament.
Two Chickasaw Nation teams traveled to Canyon for the Tri-State Regional tournament December 6 and displayed hard work as well as teamwork and sportsmanship abilities during the competition.
"I am very proud of all the hard work and dedication our teams put into the LEGO League program," said Chickasaw Nation Governor Bill Anoatubby. "It was a great accomplishment to advance to the regional tournament during the program's first year."
During the tournament, the Blockheads and the Mechanical Masterminds performed project and teamwork presentations and competed in robot performance. The students competed against several teams using creative thinking and technical skills. While using computer programming to maneuver robots through an obstacle course, the teams had 2 minutes and 30 seconds to gain as many points as possible.
"My favorite part of the tournament was building a tower during our teamwork presentation," said Blockhead team member Jordan Stick-Greenwood. "It was challenging but fun."
The Chickasaw Nation LEGO League program provides Ada area Chickasaw students ages 9 through 14 an opportunity to discover the world of science and technology. Using LEGO parts, computer programming, problem-solving and engineering skills, teams designed a robot and prepared presentations in eight weeks prior to tournament play.
For more information about the Chickasaw Nation LEGO League program, contact the science, technology and math program manager Stan Townsend at (580) 421-7711.
