1. By BRANDON
ROMAGNOLI
Contributing Writer
news@cortlandstandard.net
TULLY — Austin Frost, 12, uses a se-
ries of complex computer programs and
mathematical equations to direct a robot
to catapult a ball across a room or pick
up objects.
Through the Tully School District First
Lego League, Frost and his teammates
on NeXT Generation have learned to use
robots to solve everyday problems.
Youths from all over the world have
been participating in the First Lego
League since 1998. The league has over
200,000 students on 20,000 teams from
70 countries.
The NeXT Generation team has quali-
fied for the First Lego League World
Championship in St. Louis, Missouri,
that begins today and runs through Sat-
urday. The team of 10 middle school stu-
dents has also qualified for the league’s
North American championship in Carls-
bad, California, set for May 15-17.
Glen Ball, head coach of NeXT Gen-
eration, has been helping with the Tully
Lego League since it began in 2011. Ball
began as a co-coach for the league, and at
first wanted to help students become in-
terested in science and engineering. Af-
ter his first two seasons, he then realized
coaching for the league was something
more than just a way to teach students
what he loved.
“To me, seeing the growth with each
of the kids is more important than learn-
ing the technical skills,” Ball said.
Co-coach of NeXT Generation Mi-
chelle Matteson believes the exposure
to teams from all over the world at these
competitions is one of many benefits for
the students involved.
“Going to these competitions gives
them a chance to see how big the world
really is,” Matteson said. “To hear and
speak with kids from other countries im-
merses them in cultures they would nor-
mally never see.”
After-school programs such as the
First Lego League have gained a lot of
popularity since they started in 2011.
The Lego League involves elementary,
middle school and high school students
and consists of two divisions. The First
Lego League includes fourth- through
ninth-graders and Junior First Lego
League is for kindergartners through
third-graders. The two leagues combined
have 65 students and 21 coaches in Tully,
with four teams ages 6-10, four teams
ages 10-14, and one high school team.
The NeXT Generation team has been es-
pecially successful within the league in
recent years.
Getting to championships has not been
easy due to the high level of competition.
To be considered for regionals, the team
had to win three qualifying tournaments
where 22 other teams participated. They
then had to compete against 24 teams in
regionals before making nationals.
Despite the sense of competition
among all the teams, the coaches of
NeXT Generation say all the teams are
extremely helpful with one another. Mat-
teson recalls one moment at the regional
competition when she helped another
team operate its robot.
“One of the kids on another team was
so worried because they didn’t have
a computer to program their robot, so
I told him he can borrow one of ours,”
Matteson said. “It’s a very open commu-
nity and we all try to help each other as
much as we can.”
The activities the kids are involved in
with the Lego League teach them skills
they would not have normally developed
at such a young age.
Ball said the team has not only helped
the kids’ technical skills grow, but their
social skills as well.
“The kids have grown more with their
communication and people skills than
any other area,” Ball said. “At first the
kids weren’t OK speaking in front of
(each) other, but now they have no prob-
lem speaking to their entire school or a
panel of judges.”
The members of NeXT Generation
said they believe they have seen this
growth as well within themselves over
the years they have been together.
Nathan Cattell, 12, said joining the
team has taught him how to work with
others.
“It was hard to agree on ideas at first,
but now when we vote it brings solutions
so we can agree on things for our proj-
ects.” Cattell said.
Nicole Ball, 13, a daughter of Glen
Ball, said the team has taught her to in-
clude everyone.
“Everyone on the team has a part and
has a role, nobody is left out when we
work on our projects,” Ball said.
Matteson believes there is no limit for
NeXT Generation’s potential and the suc-
cess of the league will only grow.
“This has been a tremendous opportu-
nity for everyone involved,” Matteson
said.
Joe McIntyre/staff photographer
First Lego League NeXT Generation robotics team members, from left, Nathan Cattell, 12, Austin Frost, 12, and
Nicole Ball, 13, work on their programmable Lego robot April 8 at their workshop in Tully.
Tully students work with robots