Building High-Tech Skills For Future Workforce
Seven teams of elementary and middle school students recently qualified to compete in a statewide tournament aimed at creating a pipeline of workers with marketable skills in science, technology, engineering and math.
Lt. Governor Aiona watches the robotics team from Salt Lake Elementary School practice for the competition.
The seven survived a 17-team Hawai`i FIRST LEGO League Qualifier Tournament, held Nov. 29 at Kalakaua Middle School. Among the seven were such public schools as Pearl Ridge Elementary and Kalakaua Middle School as well as the charter school Myron B. Thompson Academy.
They all advanced to the state tournament set for Jan. 18, 2009 at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center, where teams will compete using engineering and computer programming principles as they build Lego robots designed to perform specific tasks.
FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a multinational, nonprofit organization that seeks to make science, math, engineering and technology as cool for kids as sports are today.
The Lingle-Aiona Administration has been at the movement’s forefront in Hawai`i, where tournaments that allow teams to design, build and program fully autonomous robots represent a new dimension in cultivating science and technology skills among students.
“Our administration’s support of this program is about more than building robots,” Lt. Governor Aiona said. “These young people are assembling real life engineering skills, and building confidence at the same time.”
Learn more about Hawai`i Robotics.
