Schools

Riverview First Lego Team Advances to State Tournament

The Energy Elites FLL Team is a community team that practices at TechPlayzone in Riverview.

News Report

As Florida State legislators discuss how to encourage more students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math, the STEAM Alliance of Tampa has partnered to show students how exciting science, technology, engineering, art and math can be.

The alliance recently learned about the Energy Elites, a FIRST LEGO League team of eighth-graders filled with future scientists and inventors. This group of young men demonstrates exactly what the alliance knows to be true: When students are motivated, the sky is the limit.

The FIRST LEGO League competition season began with 430 teams in Florida seeking solutions to food contamination and programming robots to gain as many points as possible in 2.5 minutes.

By Feb 4, 150 teams had advanced to regional competitions throughout the state with 48 teams hoping to move on to the state championship in Melbourne.

At the Tampa FIRST LEGO League Regional Competition, held at the University Area Development Center, 32 teams gathered from Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco counties along with two international teams, hoping to garner one of the 10 slots allotted for the State Championship.

The Energy Elites FLL Team is a community team of eighth-graders that practices at TechPlayzone in Riverview. Not only will the team advance to the state championship, but it was also awarded the Championship Award.  This award is given to the team with the best overall robot performance score, research presentation, technical design and teamwork skills.

Regional Champion Team Members:

Find out what's happening in Bloomingdale-Riverviewwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

  • Darrian Bagley — Burns Middle School, Brandon
  • Graham Peterson — Immanuel Lutheran School, Brandon
  • Michael Schutte — Randall Middle School, Lithia
  • Daniel Brown —  Stewart Middle Magnet School, Tampa
  • Joshua LeGrande — Mann Middle School, Brandon


The Energy Elites FLL Robotics team worked tirelessly to design and program their NXT Mindstorms Robot to get as many points as possible. They diligently sought out experts and went on field trips to gather research about fish contamination.

They developed an innovative solution to improve bio-filtration for fish farmers. And most important, they worked as a team throughout the season, showing respect, professionalism and graciousness.

The team members will continue practicing for the next two weeks as they prepare for the Feb. 26 state championship at the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne.

These future scientists, engineers and innovators will solve some of our nation's most important problems.

For the past three seasons, the Energy Elites have hosted a FIRST Lego League Qualifying competition for local teams.

Find out what's happening in Bloomingdale-Riverviewwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

For more information about FIRST LEGO LEAGUE and forming school teams,  visit: www.usfirst.org/fll

For more information about how FLL works in Florida, visit: www.flrobotics.org.

For questions or comments, call Desh Bagley, coach and tournament director, at 813-453-8612


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here