LINCOLN -- Six Cheyenne county students competed against 89 teams across the state in the FIRST Lego League State Championship.

The competition took place on the UNL campus March 21-22. FIRST stands for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. It was created to introduce youth to real-world engineering challenges by building LEGO-based robots to complete tasks on a thematic playing surface. They learn to experiment and grow critical thinking, coding and design skills through hands-on STEM activities.

The students started in August to design and program a robot that navigates the missions of a robot game. In Lincoln, the team completed three robot game matches in the Nebraska Coliseum to test their robot’s capabilities.  The local team placed 15th out of 89 teams.

They also took part in a question-and-answer judging session, presented an innovation project before judges, and had the opportunity to interact with industry partners from across the state. Expansion events during the competition included a paper rocket launching workshop led by the UNL Engineering Ambassadors, building metal joists, and meeting a robot dog with the NE Innovation Campus.

The team consisted of Weston Narjes, Carsten Johnson, Henry Sinnett, Luke Florke, Bennett Cottrell, and Max Howard, coached by Laura Narjes and Kelsey Cottrell.

For more details on the program, visit 4-H.unl.edu/first-lego-league.