On May 6th and 7th, 2023, a First Lego League tournament took place in our school. 66 teams from various schools took part in the event. Two teams from our school participated in the event which was organized by the Science Heroes Association, which aims to increase and develop individuals' effectiveness and capacities in the fields of social, natural, and applied sciences through educational activities in Turkey. One of these teams was our Anatolian High School FLL team named "Antidote". The Antidote team won 2nd place in "core categories", which is one of the most important values of the First Lego League. The other team was our Science and Technology High School team, named "Wanderlust". Wanderlust won 3rd place on the tournament's second day and qualified to attend the national tournament, which will take place at Izmir International Fair on June 10th.
I was a member of the Wanderlust team, and I would like to share our experience in the course of this wonderful tournament.
The whole team arrived at school at 7.00 am. We gathered together in the FLL room of our school and prepared for the day. We had painted a styrofoam world, the world was the symbol of our group, and we had prepared some posters to hang up at our table in the tournament area. The only thing that we had to do at that moment, was to physically get ready for fun. So, we and Antidote painted our faces and we wore our name tag necklaces. And both teams were ready!
our team photos
We first arrived at our team's table. We prepared everything to better introduce the other participants to our team. And the rest of the day was full of robot competitions, meeting with new people, getting to know new schools, and of course, having fun. There was a really big speaker at the tournament area who played music all day long. And, FLL is a tournament that values not only robot competitions but also the participants' enjoyment and teamwork. So, we could get up our tables and dance whenever we wanted. It was a blast! And of course, as the common quote mentions, "It's the journey, not the destination", we had a lot of fun on our journey, and that was the biggest prize of all for us.
We worked insanely hard during the tournament but every single thing we did, we did with teamwork, and I think that was the key to our success.
And here's the video of our prize being announced and our reaction when we hear it.
Our group members and Mentours: Duru Özdemir, Duru Karakuş, Atınç Alp Bulut, Jülide Ezel Kavalcı, Efe Demir Şahin, Mert Bayram, Koray Kantar, Onur Tatar, Ali Efe Ezenoğlu, Öykü Başaran, Oya Tezcoşkun & Can Kitiş
Coaches: Ahmet Özgür & Orçun Aksade