12-16-2019 AMAZING! Our NERDS are ALL winners!

We already knew that our NERDS were all winners, we had won in so many ways already- from learning how to design in CAD, to collaborating with teams from across the state, to getting the robot to do that one challenge that seemed too difficult, to building complex prototypes, to growing friendships, and on and on and on.....

And then this past weekend we went to the North Sound Regional Qualifying Tournament at Cascade High School and we were BLOWN AWAY by how amazing our NERDS were. 

First, some observations:

• "Can we go help them?" was something I heard our teams say over and over again. Can we go help that team with their robot? Can we go help those volunteers set that up? Can we go help organize that over there? Can we help... Can we help?... 
• Gracious Professionalism and Sportsmanship are contagious- our teams kept surprising other teams with by doing "unexpected things" like going over to shake hands after the robot game, or when they came out of the judging room, or THANKING the volunteers for volunteering (one volunteer said that nobody had thanked them yet that day!). Later in the day, some of those same teams were following along.  We love that our kids were able to spread kindness in this way. 
• Sometimes things go wrong. One of our robots had a bad day. It happens. One of our project prototypes broke. The kids fixed it. The way our kids responded again and again to disappointments, challenges, and "bad things" showed so much maturity, grace, and confidence. We are so proud to be the coaches of these teams!

Next, celebrations:

• NERDzilla brought their A game to their project and earned EXEMPLARY scores from the judges for their Research and their Innovative Solution. They also rocked the Robot Design Judging, with Exemplary scores in their Robot Game Strategy and Innovation. The Judges recognized their quality as a team with the coveted JUDGES AWARD, this year entitled "The Model FLL Team". 
• Macho Nacho NERDS brought extreme enthusiam to the day and earned an EXEMPLARY score from the judges in their Project  Research and Innovative Solution. That combined with a good showing on the robot game table was enough to earn them an Advancement to the Western WA State Semi Finals!
• NERDS the Smarties were bright, colorful, and spreading kindness and coopertition all day. The earned EXEMPLARY scores from the judges for their teamwork, inspiration, and gracious professionalism. The also were selected by the judges to recieve the 1st Place Robot Design: Programming Award! Their hard work payed off and they will also Advance to the Western WA State Semi Finals!
• QiiWii NERDS showed that we are stronger together than apart! They earned EXEMPLARY scores in almost all areas: Project: Research, Innovative Solution, Core Values: Inspiration, Teamwork, Gracious Professionalism, and Robot: Strategy and Innovation! Amazing! Their joyful approach to the day earned them the 1st Place in Core Values: Inspiration Award and they will also Advance to the Western WA State Semi Finals!

That is right folks! THREE NERDS teams will be moving on the the Western WA Semi Finals! and THREE NERDS teams came home with Trophies recognizing their amazing efforts!