Two all-girls robotics teams from WW-P moved on to regional championships after strong performances at the First Lego League competition at the University of Pennsylvania Regional Qualifier at Archbishop Wood High School last month.
Green Machine received the Core Values Inspiration award for its teamwork and outreach work. This is the fourth year this team has moved on to the regional championships.
Students from Grover Middle School include Elsa Moroney, grade 6; Elizabeth Jean-Jacques, grade 8; Susan George, grade 7; Rosina Ananth, grade 6; and Himaja Vendidandi, grade 7. Students from Community Middle School include Sanjna Ravichandar, grade 8; Lauren Killackey, grade 6; and Isabella Pacheco, grade 6. Village School fifth grade students include Miriam George and Kennedy Jean-Jacques.
Dream Green Machine took the first place champion’s award at the qualifier competition and will move on to the regional championships for the first time.
Team members from Community Middle School include Advaith Bantval, grade 8; Prital Joshi, grade 6; Shambhavi Mishra, grade 8; Sriya Bapatla, grade 6; Parul Joshi, grade 6; and Veepra Mishra, grade 6. Students from Grover Middle School include Ruchi Aluwalia, grade 8; Neha Aluwalia, grade 8; and Ankhita Jegan, grade 7. Team members from Millstone River School include fifth grade students Niyati Bantval, Shreya Hegde, and Sruti Bapatla. Their coach is Charu Jegan.
Both teams will compete at the University of Pennsylvania Southeast Regional Championships on Saturday, February 1.
Coaches include Karen Sue, her husband, Richard Moroney, and Sunil George. This is Sue’s second year coaching Green Machine. Last year the team took second place at their qualifier tournament and then received one of the top five awards, FIRST Spirit award, at the regional championships.
“My daughter (Elsa Moroney) joined the team three years ago as a fourth grader and was part of the team that went to the FIRST world championships. The original coaches moved on to start a high school level team, Team WA*GS 6039,” says Sue. “I had shown interest and got tapped to carry on the team.”
Sue majored in English and minored in Celtic studies at UC Berkeley and later earned a master’s in physical therapy from Rutgers/UMDNJ. “I have no robotics knowledge but love science,” she says.
The original team was started and coached by Cheryl Rowe-Rendleman, Jan Cardinale, Helen Rancan, and Andrea Mandel in 2010 with a focus of getting Girl Scouts interested in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) and STEM careers. “We will be celebrating our fifth year next year and hope to do something to mark this milestone,” says Sue.
Students from Community and Grover middle schools were named winners of the Research and Innovation Award in a recent First Lego League competition. Team 3126 Alternative Thinkers was honored for “The Fire Box” offering quick identification and control of wild fires in any part of the world. The middle school student team is planning on patenting this innovation and will participate in the FLL Global Innovation Awards.
Team members from Community Middle School include Ayush Vikram, grade 7; and Gaurav Hardikar, grade 8. Grover Middle School students include Harshini Raman, grade 8; Aparajita Rana, grade 8; and Abhinaya Raghunanthan, grade 8. The FIRST LEGO League Global Innovation Award “is designed to encourage and assist FLL teams to further develop their innovative solutions to real-world problems.”
The MidKnight Inventors, students from High Schools North and South, not only build competitive robots. They are also committed to expanding interest in STEM subjects throughout the school district and townships.
The FIRST Robotics High School Team FRC 1923 recently collected more than 100 pounds of food and $250 for the Plainsboro Township Food Pantry. The food was delivered to Leonard Celluro Jr., director of Plainsboro Township Department of Recreation & Community Services, and to Maria Benerofe, coordinator of the Plainsboro Township Food Pantry.
