Skånelagets arbete med kärnvärdena räckte ända till Houston

Läs lagledarens egna berättelse här om deras erfarenheter och upplevelser – det är en fröjd att få dela denna upplevelse med dem. Stort tack till Rochelle Watkins och hennes Explorelag, Lundian Råkors.

Seven years after founding a Robotics Club at the International Engelska Skolan in Lund, I was speechless when our team found ourselves at the First Lego League World Finals in Houston, Texas, accepting an award on stage. It’s a journey always dreamed about by a coach, but hardly expected, simply because there are so many amazing kids in so many amazing teams. Yet, here we were.

Two of my team members, Ezat Almasri and Casper Munther, were in a 4^th grade class at IES, where I was a teacher. The third member was Ezat’s younger brother Suhaib Almasri, who joined us with his mother for our after school meetings. Casper’s dad, Joakim Munther, attended every session and helped immensely with assisting the team in learning programming.

Excitement, gratitude, joy- these words only begin to describe the emotions felt by our team. Frustration was also felt, as two out of three of our team members could not go due to passport issues. The solution: the members who could go would go, and we would have the rest of the team on video call from Sweden during our judging session.

Getting everything to Houston was not easy. Would we mail everything ahead of time to the US? Or take it all with us in our luggage? The team opted to bring it in their luggage, including all the Lego builds, the main competitive motorize model, posters, and our team gear.

The World Finals were hosted in a huge convention center in downtown Houston. It was decorated beautifully, and had full a Texas-style steak restaurant and a Starbucks inside.

There were three levels full of teams from all over the world, ranging from grades 1-12: from 7 years old to 19 years old! All the teams had something to give away from their country. Most had made their own team buttons, and our team had a great time going around to the hundreds of different booths, meeting the teams and collecting badges. Some teams gave away a specialty food or even toy. Our team gave away small Swedish flags, and flags with our team name, Lundian Råkor.

During our judging session, we carried our Lego model in to the judging room and set it up. We got our members in Sweden on video chat, who were ready in the team shirts. My favorite part of the session was when our team members described how they arranged themselves into three jobs, and switched jobs every session so everyone got a chance to build with the Legos. When they were asked how it was before they arranged themselves into jobs, Ezat answered, “It was chaos!!” which made everyone laugh.

Every team would get a trophy to take home, so I wasn’t surprised when we were called on stage. But when they announced that we won the Core Values award, I started to cry. I knew my team members had the kindest values, and it was incredible to see that others saw it, too. Something always dreamed about by a coach, but not often recognized. Yet, here we were. Hurrah for Lundian Råkor! Hurrah for Sweden!

If you’re wondering what it’s like to be in a First Lego League team, find your nearest Lego event or team, and go check it out! Every kid should have a chance to participate. No prior experience necessary!

A huge thank you to Föreningen First Lego League Skåne, and First Lego League Scandinavia. And to Annie Bergh. You truly change lives.

Vill du veta mer om FLL? Skriv till annie.bergh@malmo.se

Varmt välkomna att delta!