Transcript
Students compete in international Lego competition at the U of M

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This is a long way from the science class the parents of these kids remember…

“It’s much more fun to learn it as an experience instead of just reading about it in a book.”

At the University of Minnesota, middle schoolers from around the world competed in the FIRST Lego League International Open …an event that pitted teams of eight kids against each others’ Lego Robots in a competition on the floor of Williams Arena.

“It is really cool. It’s kind of hard, but when you get it, it’s really fun.”

The theme for the first-time, soon-to-be-annual event is renewable energy, giving these kids a fun way to learn about science that affects the real world.

“I studied a lot of electricity in Iceland …and geothermal heat. We have a lot of that in Iceland.”

The event also brought hundreds of young science experts …the future of the technology industry, to the U of M.

“The same way that a basketball camp, here at Williams Arena would help lure in young hoops recruits, a technology event like this helps bring in the recruits for the U’s Institute of Technology.”

“Just like kids come here to go to a basketball game and dream about playing in the barn someday, we want them to come here and say, ‘hey, I’ve been to the University, I’ve done my robotics here, maybe I can go to school here someday.”

Fred Rose, the founder of High Tech Kids, the organization behind the Lego League event, says this competition works as a recruiting event for the U’s Institute of Technology. Bringing some of the brightest young minds to Minnesota, and showing them that science and technology are a big part of the University.

“We need to build up that pipeline of kids who are scientifically literate. So it makes perfect sense to partner with the University.”

For the University of Minnesota, I’m Justin Ware.