Over 225 students compete in Lego tournament

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - Science Central hosted the tenth annual First Lego League Indiana Qualifying Tournament at Indiana Tech on Sunday, November 18.

The tournament is one of Indiana's largest and encourages young students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math.

26 teams, which included more than 225 students, competed for a chance to advance to the Indiana state finals, which will be held in December.

Elementary and middle school students worked as a team to program a NXT Lego robot. Teams were required to program the robot and score points on a themed playing field.

This year's challenge was "Senior Solutions." The theme involved designing technology to complement the aging process.

The Northside Xtreme Team from Fort Wayne won first place. The team is coached by Lenora Hazen Reider.

The following teams will advance to the state finals:

• Electrical Expressions from Woodside Middle School, Fort Wayne, coached by Sarah Kniss
• Huntertown Sprockets from Huntertown Elementary School, Huntertown, coached by Greg Byman
• Legocy Blue from Carroll Middle School, Fort Wayne, coached by Jamie Wilkins
• Thunderbirds from Huntington Co. 4-H Robotics, Huntington, coached by Chris Elston
• Tigerbots Green from Yorktown Middle School, Yorktown, coached by Deb Smith
• Northside Xtreme Team from Northside Home School Co-op, Fort Wayne, coached by Lenora Hazen Reider

The Indiana Championship Tournament will be held at IPFW on December 8.