Mechanical Masterminds 2018/19

No doubt there's no better feeling than to be announced grand champions of district and to move on to the state competition. But state became this year's stopping point, and that's okay because the Mechanical Masterminds did amazingly well for the 2018-19 season. And they are eager to and determined to try again for the 2019-20 season.

A few years ago Vanessa was asked to join her Avery Elementary FLL LEGO team, but she had other wishes for how she wanted to invest and spend her time then, so we declined. Then after a rough 2018 summer season and not being able to play soccer in the fall, Vanessa's predicted goals changed suddenly when the newer independent team, made up of a few fellow Avery classmates, extended another invite. As I told Coach Ivan, it would be a perfect time for Vanessa to try it. He talked about how the season could be long and wanted us to be prepared for that. Vanessa was ready and eager and it showed in her dedication to the project meetings and her attempts to do well.

At both district and state, the practice robot rounds did not go as well as they should've. In both cases the team problem solved and perservered, and pulled off impressive rounds.

 At state, the robots were so far off in the practice round it was sort of a panic and freak out, but the 1st scoring round with Drew and Vanessa resulted in an impressive score of 196. What a comeback feeling!

 Tough judgment call!

After a hard follow-up meeting, the Mechanical Masterminds are determined to refine project processes and team dynamics. They are excited for the 2019/20 season to come!