The middle school robotics team competed at their regional competition at Crown Center against a host of other teams. The first place team would advance to the world championship, and the second place team would advance to nationals in Arkansas. Barstow’s robotics team, The Knights Who Say “Ni,” improved their robot and innovation project from the last competition and performed very well.
Jack Cuezze (‘24), a mentor for the middle school robotics team and member of the upper school robotics team, states, “The competition was great! The venue was really nice, and the energy was good. I think the kids did really well, and I think that we’ll definitely have a good chance next season.”
The ability to have a middle school robotics team at Barstow should not be taken for granted. Thanks to the hard work and dedication of the coaches, Amanda Lea and Erin Thornburgh, the many members of the Upper School Robotics Team who coached the middle schoolers, and other parents and faculty involved, the middle schoolers were able to participate in competition this year. Everyone involved in the competition put in a lot of hard work and time during both practices and competition. The team’s performance this year proves that Barstow has the potential for even more success next year.
This year, Barstow had enough people who participated in the middle school robotics team to have three different teams compete. In honor of Barstow’s tradition of naming their robotics teams after Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the teams were named The Knights Who Say Ni, The Knights Who Til Recently Said Ni, and The Knights Who Say Ekki Ekki Ekki Whoop Ftang Zoom Boink. All teams performed phenomenally at the competition, and the Knights Who Say Ni advanced to regionals. Duhah Azaz (‘27), Joshua Bourke (‘27), Deuce Chanos (‘28), Maaz Hawa (‘28), Lia Levin (‘27), and John McKinney (‘28) made up The Knights Who Say Ni.
Barstow’s middle school robotics teams are some of the many teams who participate in the First Lego League, or FLL. In FLL, students compete in three different areas. In robot competition, students build a robot using legos, and code it to complete tasks, which earn them points. Additionally, in the innovation project, students work to solve a real-world problem by inventing something for everyday use. Finally, in both aspects of the competition, students are graded for their core values, or how they act at competition.
In the robot game, The Knights Who Say Ni scored a high score of 225 points, and they received a 4, which is the highest score possible, two out of three times on their core values. Cuezze believes, “The team definitely had a big improvement over the previous competition.” Overall, The Knights Who Say Ni did an incredible job of representing Barstow at FLL competitions.
The Barstow robotics team and everyone else involved did a fantastic job of supporting and preparing each other for competition. All three of the teams should be incredibly proud of their progress and effort throughout the year. Without the teamwork and cooperation that occurred, the teams would have never been so successful. With the same level of work and dedication, the middle school robotics team will undoubtedly have another fantastic season.
