What is FIRST LEGO League?

FIRST LEGO League is a program to promote technology and science at the grade school level. In an eight week period, teams of students, aged 9 to 14, create two major products. The first is an autonomous robot to perform various tasks. This robot is designed, built, and programmed entirely by the kids and teaches creative problem solving and logical thought processes. The second is a presentation based on a research project. At the end of eight weeks, teams meet for local/regional, and state competitions. At competition, a team’s products are judged, and awards are presented in numerous categories.

FLL gives a team member a glimpse of what life is like in a technology career. A team member gets to see a product develop from a specification to a design approach, to prototyping, to development, to integration, to test, and finally to product. Each stage provides its own unique problems and challenges to the team.

Notable among these problems is that problem solving takes time and that not all solutions work.

FLL team members soon realize that much of what they do does not meet expectations, but that persevering will eventually give them a working solution. Working as a team will accelerate this process only if they are willing to listen to each other’s ideas.

What do we need?

Our team is seeking sponsors to help offset the cost of running the team as well as competing in various tournaments. We will be learning about Climate Connections and will embark on an exploration of the earth’s climate and discover the links between science, people, resources and communities.

Of particular interest in 2008 is our opportunity to participate in an exchange program with Electroambiental, a team from Toluca, Mexico. We will collaborate with the team via web cam through the building season, then travel to Mexico to compete as one combined team in the Mexico National Tournament.

A normal season requires a team budget in the $1500 range. I will be formulating a budget for the exchange program as plans fall into place but this year will obviously require significantly more funding. Ideally we will have a combination of sponsorship and team fundraising to underwrite everything.

For 2008 we have 3 levels of sponsorship:

Duplo- $125    Your company logo on our team t-shirts

LEGO Classic- $200    Your company logo on our team t-shirts,
tournament table and banner

Mindstorms NXT- $275    LEGO Classic as wel as your company name prominently featured in team press releases and a logo and description on our web site with a link to your company's web site

Thank you for your consideration! Feel free to Contact Us with any questions.

Please make checks payable to Lego Lakers, 16668 Northwood Trail, Spring Lake, MI 49456