Saturday, Nov., 21 at Monroe High School the first ever LEGO league robotics event was held at 9 a.m. More than 300 third through eighth graders competed in the event.  

More than 31 teams participated with 20 of them representing  their schools from the Monroe County district. By the end of the day seven of the teams qualified and advanced to the state meet on December 21, including Waterloo’s team.

Some of the Monroe County schools participating on Saturday are: Eyler, Ritter and sterling elementaries and Wagner Middle School from Airport Schools; Bedford’s elementary schools; Monroe Catholic Elementary Schools; Waterloo Elementary fro Monroe Public Schools; Ida Middle School; Dundee Elementary School; and Meadow Montessori Schools.

The theme for this year is “Trash Tech.” The participants were given a topic and a playing field was developed around the chosen topic. They had to build and program robots to accomplish several tasks on a four-foot by eight-foot playing field.

Later in the day teams showed a presentation to a panel of judges on the research and the innovative solution to the theme “Trash Tech” that they created. They also were tested on their teamwork and judged on how their team symbolized core values. The next category was how they demonstrated their skill in programming their robot. Lastly, they’ll were judged on their robot’s performance during the playing field.

The event is the state event at Jefferson High School Dec. 12 beginning at 8 a.m., which is also open to the public and free of charge.