The Inventioneers, Team 1976, a neighborhood team from Londonderry, earned the Champion’s Award at the sixth annual New Hampshire FIRST LEGO® League Tournament held Saturday, Dec. 8, at Nashua High School North.

FIRST LEGO League – For Innovation and Recognition of Science and Technology – seeks to encourage an interest in science, math, and technology among students, ages 9-14, in a compressed, fast-paced program.

The Inventioneers were among 52 New Hampshire elementary, middle school, and home-schooled teams who researched, designed, and demonstrated a robotic solution to this years’ challenge, Power Puzzle. Power Puzzle asked students to audit energy use and recommend solutions to today’s energy needs.

The nine-member Londonderry team audited Londonderry’s Central Fire Station for energy efficiencies and met with an architect on the station’s new building to discuss use of thin film integrated solar panels in the design.

Inventioneer students are Emily, Kate and Paige Balcom; Tristan and Jaiden Evarts; Sarah Heimlich; and Andrew, Sammy and Nick Vivian. Coaches are Luan Heimlich and Lisa Evarts.

The Inventioneers win makes the team eligible to participate in international competition next April in Atlanta.

Runner up for the Champion’s Award was Team 528, the Flying Geeks Gold from Nashua Christian Academy in Nashua. Team members are Kelsey Seremet, Jon Knittel, Robert Goodell, Nathan Gray, Ben Stickney, and Judson Hopwood. Coaches are Randy Bohannan, Jim Knittel, and Larry Gray.

Technical Performance Awards
(highest overall score based on the robot's performance in the timed rounds)

• First Place: Team 33, Mindstorm’s Mayhem, a Milford Area Youth Homeschoolers Enriching Minds (MAYHEM) team. Team members are Jeremy Edelblut, Micah Edelblut, David and Melissa Gray, Megan and Nicholas Hammes, Amelia Jennings, Elizabeth Poore, Amy Schunemann, and Nathan Streeter. Coaches are Bill Gray, Ken Streeter, and Katie Hammes (Mentor).
• Second Place: Team 20, Renewable Energy Hogs, a neighborhood team. Team members are Kyle Forgaard, Julia Cowan, Brooks Willis, Cameron Campbell, Michael Hu, and Christian Le Doux. Coaches are Chris Willis, Janet Cowan, and Melinda Willis.
• Third Place: Team 2178, the Computer chips, from St. Thomas Aquinas School in Derry. Team members are Katrina Bradley, Lauren D’Intino, Stephanie Manley, Nicole Ouellette, and Valerie Tellier. Coaches are Tom Manley and Jean Manley.
• Fourth Place: Team 3493, Lego Lightning Lords, a neighborhood team from Brentwood. Team members are Michael Austin, Chip McNaughton, Andrew and Shawn Stephens. Coaches are Jim Austin and Bethel Stephens.

Technical Robot Design Awards
(best incorporation of team design and programming)

• First Place: Team 293, And the Cat, from Madbury. Team members are Daniel Faiella, Kristen Laaman, Timmy Murray, Gubby Noronha, Ben and Nick Wakeman. Coaches are Michael Faiella, Josh Lizotte (mentor), and Peter Somers (mentor).
• Second Place: Team 33, Mindstorm’s Mayhem a Milford Area Youth Homeschoolers Enriching Minds (MAYHEM) team.
• Third Place: Team 5298, Watt’s Up, Doc?, Amherst Middle School. Team members are Sage Wesenberg; Rebecca, Daniel, and Matthew O'Dowd; Emmy McGuy; and Alex Mendola. Coaches are Rich Wesenberg, Jim O'Dowd, Alan McGuy, and Sal Mendola.

Team Project Presentation Awards
(best proposal concept, documentation and oral presentation)

• First Place: Team 123, G.P.R.T. (Girls Precision Robotics Team), a Manchester neighborhood team. Team members are Anna and Emma Ambrogi, Jenna Berry, Carolyn Larkins, Rachel Norris, and Brenna Ryder. Coaches are Benge and Sarah Ambrogi.
• Second Place: Team 20, Renewable Energy Hogs, a neighborhood team. Team members are Kyle Forgaard, Julia Cowan, Brooks Willis, Cameron Campbell, Michael Hu, and Christian Le Doux. Coaches are Chris Willis, Janet Cowan, and Melinda Willis.
• Third Place: Team 1915, Space Cowboys, from Nashua Catholic Regional Junior High School. Team members are Matthew Zeeb, Andrew Nissen, Greg Bilodeau, Michael Raposo, Andrew Sanborn, Michael Aldana-Proulx, and John Morgan Wight. Coaches are Cida and Jeff Zeeb, Marta Nissen, Kristine Zeeb (Mentor) and Celia Nissen (Mentor).

Teamwork Awards
(team whose members best demonstrate enthusiasm and spirit, partnering among themselves and among the teams, and problem solving skills)

• First Place: Team 155, Oh My, from Elm Street Middle School in Nashua. Team members are Pooja Karnane, Craig King, Kerri McCarthy, Taylor McCormack, and Spencer Rak. Coaches are Jen Gaffney, Jay Dowling (Mentor), Kayla King (Mentor), and Alex Pelkey (Mentor).
• Second Place: Team 590, New Boston RoboSox, from The Derryfield School, New Boston Central School, Mountain View Middle School. Team members are Jonathan Arvin, Mark and Rebecca Powell, Isaiah Smith, Marisa Stephens, and Madeleine Walstad. Coaches are Michael Powell and Scott Arvin.
• Third Place: Team 637, Mach 6, from Manchester Church of Christ, Londonderry, Manchester, Milford, and Merrimack. Team members are Sarah Bell, Logan Hazelton, Liam Mattox, and Nathan Moser. Coach is Ken Bell.

Special Judges' Awards
(recognize particularly innovative strategies and performance)

The Judges' Rookie All Star Team Award

• Team 2912, Team FUUSEion, from the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Exeter. Team members are Ethan Burk-McCoy, Kenji Gangai, Eliza Reiter, Ben McConnell, Roan and Damon Lanigan, Roger Detzler, and Connor Murphy. Coaches are Frank Merrick, Kris McCoy, Jim Morriss, and Paul Robinson.

The Judges' Mentorship Award

• Team 3077, Chicnology, from James Mastricola Upper Elementary, Merrimack Middle School, Nashua Catholic from Merrimack and Nashua. Team members are Kati Walker, Madison Eger, Meagan Greenhalgh, and Jessica Walker. Coaches are Erich and Susan Eger.

The Judges' Community Outreach Award

• Team 3554, Lebanon Lightning Legos, from Lebanon. Team members are Alison Fielder, Jessica Wentworth, Kate Haidari, Lauren Martin, Michaela Bish, Natalie Cantlin, and Rachel Pollard. Coaches are Laurel Pollard, Marjie Bish, and Kristen Lurie, Mentor.

The Judges' Jedi Hardware Award

• Team 3521, Lebanon LeafHoppers, from Hanover Street School in Lebanon. Team members are Chelsea Paige, Audry Swift, Emily Krueger, Ried Sanborn, Zach Grudem, Alex Biron, and Zoe Yu. Coaches are Travis Paige, Rachel West, and Jackie Grudem.

The Adult Mentor Award

• Frank Merrick, a coach on Team 2912. The Young Adult Mentor Award was given to Justin Benham on Team 3024. Outstanding Volunteer Award went to Dave and Nancy Kelso with the Manchester Central FIRST Robotics, Team 131.

The Team Spirit Award

• Team 155, Oh My.

Twelve weeks ago, students began building and testing a robot that would best execute a number of maneuvers on a tabletop field. At the day-long tournament, teams played against each other in 2 1/2-minute rounds on an 8-foot by 4-foot tabletop playing field. The robots were tasked to complete up to twelve missions that emphasize different types of energy use, such as hydro dam, wind, solar, wave turbine, coal, corn, oil, and tree planting. All teams evaluated the energy use of a building in their town and propose solutions to reduce consumption or move toward an alternative energy use. Points were awarded for each completed mission.

The nine-year-old program today has nearly 9,000 teams from throughout the United States and 32 other countries. Like its parent organization, FIRST, the LEGO League gives students a real world challenge, asks them to provide a solution through hands-on experimentation, and then demonstrate the capabilities of their robotic design.

New Hampshire tournament hosts included high school FIRST teams from Hollis Brookline, Bishop Guertin, Nashua, Manchester Central, the University of New Hampshire, Merrimack, Bishop Brady, Alvirne, Daniel Webster College, Team Phoenix, and Nashua High School North. BAE Systems sponsored the event.