Communion of Saints team advances to district Lego tournament

Saber Sockets (from left, back row to front row): Jacob Welsh, David Lampman, Jenna Gordon, Kenny Statham, Max McNeil, Preston Oddo, Mark Heltzel, Will Eva, Henry Peyrebrune, Robbie Applegate and Caleb Blake.

The Saber Sockets team from Communion of Saints School will compete in the FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Northeast Ohio District Tournament, to be held at the University of Akron, on Saturday Jan. 10. The Saber Sockets was one of six teams to advance from the Hathaway Brown Regional Tournament, held in December. 

FLL introduces young students, ages 9–14, in grades 4–8, to real-world engineering challenges. Teams of up to 10 students, with at least two coaches, build Lego-based robots to complete tasks.

This year’s Communion of Saints team members are Robbie Applegate, Caleb Blake, Will Eva, Jenna Gordon, Mark Heltzel, David Lampman, Max McNeil (alternate), Preston Oddo, Henry Peyrebrune, Kenny Statham and Jacob Welsh.  

In addition to building and programming their robot, Ice JJ Fish, the students had to come up with an innovative solution to improve a learning experience. The team’s solution was to use an Oculus Rift—a virtual reality headset—to create a fun, interactive way to learn about space, to enable students to learn by seeing, hearing and touching. The students must present their ideas to a panel of judges through a skit. They must also be prepared to answer questions about their research, and engage their robot in a series of tasks, which earn an overall score.

Communion of Saints School, 2160 Stillman Road (at Cedar Road) in Cleveland Heights, was established in 2010 with the merger of four parishes in the Diocese of Cleveland. The school was formerly known as Saint Ann School, established in 1916. For more information, call 216-932-4177 or visit www.communionofsaintsschool.org.

Amy Fischer

Amy Fischer is a member of the school advisory committee at Communion of Saints School, located at 2160 Stillman Road in Cleveland Heights.

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Volume 8, Issue 2, Posted 12:03 PM, 01.06.2015