The Young Scholars of Central Pennsylvania Charter School’s middle school students received the Champion’s Award for their performance at the First Lego League PA Central Championship held last month in Johnstown.
The YSCP Roboscholars were recognized for their performance in four categories: core values, project, robot design and performance, according to a press release.
The Champion’s Award qualifies the Roboscholars to compete in the First Lego League World Festival in St. Louis, Wednesday, April 26, through Saturday, April 29. The festival celebrates science and technology across the world and includes five teams from Pennsylvania, 58 teams from other states and 42 teams from Europe and Asia.
This year’s FLL theme was “Animal Allies.” It explored how people help animals, how animals help people and how people and animals help each other.
The YSCP Roboscholars team is drawn from a group of students from four different cultures speaking six different languages. It includes Nathan Duty, Ayla Dedeoglu, Ashrafur Khan, Araaf Mannan, Isaiah Watson, Ryan McKee, Zachary Cady, Clara Pedroso, Arjun Sharma and Elliott Rose. The team is coached by Abdulkadir Biyik, Gary White and Sarah Naeem.
Together, the students have been working two days a week since October to prepare for the Animal Allies Challenge. Team activities included the design and the programming of a “Lego Mindstorms” robot to complete up to 16 missions in two and a half minutes.
The team’s other major activity concerned the identification of a problem and the development of a solution for how humans and animals can help each other. The students facilitated closeness between senior citizens and a cat companion.
The students are in need of funds to offset expenses necessary to travel to St. Louis and compete in the event, according to the release. To make a donation, visit www.youcaring.com/youngscholarsofcentralpacharterschoolroboticsteam-768019#.
Or, make a check payable to ‘YSCP’ and mail it to YSCP, c/o Levant Kaya, 1530 Westerly Parkway, State College, PA 16801.
For more information, contact Kaya, YSCP CEO and principal, at (814) 237-9727.
