March 28, 2024

Beckwith Teams Win Awards in FIRST LEGO League Qualifying Tournament

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Two teams from D.L. Beckwith Middle School in Rehoboth traveled to Ricci Middle School in North Providence on Sat. December 9th for the FIRST ® LEGO ® League qualifying tournament. Both teams did an awesome job and brought home some awards from the event. The Savage Dabs won the Champion’s Award, the event’s top honor while The Poncho Squad won the 2nd Place Champions Award. The Savage Dabs also won the trophy for achieving the highest score on the robot game competition.

To win the Champion’s Award, a team must excel in the robot design, project and the robot game while demonstrating FIRST LEGO League core values: working together as a team, honoring the spirit of friendly competition, and understanding that what they discover is more important than what they win. The Savage Dabs did just that to take home the Champion’s Award over 20 other teams. Taking the top two spots in the tournament is a tribute to the hard work that the kids put in.

The Savage Dabs, coached by Mrs. Tomellini and Mr. Kenny, included Angelina Araujo, Ethan Cutler, Josh Guarino, Noah Ferreira, Alex Tomellini, Katie Vitale and Evan Watts. This team’s robot, Mittens 2.0, scored 215 points on the robot game table - 90 points ahead of the second place team. For their project they created the Hydrant Helping Hemisphere, a device to keep fire hydrants from being buried in the snow.

The Poncho Squad, coached by Mr. Greenberg and Mr. Kenny, included Devin Andrade, Alex Cote, Jacob Greenberg, Jonah Hebda, Ethan Martinous, Destin Michener, and Sebastian Pickford. They came in fourth in the robot game as their robot, Da Poncho, finish the three rounds with a top score of 90 points. The Poncho Squad designed a water purification system, the Personal Water Distillation System or PWDS, and presented a working prototype to the judges.

This is the second year that teams from Rehoboth have competed in the FIRST LEGO League qualifying tournament and we are extremely proud of their accomplishments. Both teams will be representing D. L. Beckwith Middle School at the RI State Regional Championship at Roger Williams University on January 13, 2018. The teams would like to thank Captain Pray and Firefighter Ferreira of the East Providence Fire Department, Fireman Randy from the Rehoboth Fire Department and his daughter Mandy Larrivee, and Mr. Steven Braiser of the Russell F. Tennant Attleboro Water Treatment Center for his expertise and for allowing us to visit and learn about the operations. We would also like to thank Mr. Pirraglia, Ms. Jerauld and the Beckwith staff for their support of the team throughout the year.

The Ricci Middle School FIRST LEGO League qualifying tournament was the third of the season, with two additional qualifying tournaments on December 16 and December 17th. In all, 40 of the 80 teams registered for the FIRST LEGO League season will advance from the 5 qualifying tournaments to the FIRST LEGO League Rhode Island state championship on January 13, 2018, in the field house at Roger Williams University. The winner of the State Championship will compete in the FIRST World Festival in Detroit, Michigan in April. For more information on the FIRST LEGO League Rhode Island, visit www.risf.net.

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