Seven Safety Sergeants
are up to the Challenge
The Gregory School’s Middle School FIRST LEGO League team is part of a guided, global robotics competition that offers theme-based challenges to engage students in research, problem solving, coding, and engineering.
“This year students are challenged to reimagine cities,” fifth grade teacher and FIRST LEGO League coach Jennifer DeBenedetti explained. “What will the future hold in terms of architectural design and construction? How will environmental considerations be made for wildlife and native vegetation? How can traffic flow be managed safely, efficiently, and economically?”
The Gregory School's “Seven Safety Sergeants” — or S Cubed — conducted research and interviewed a police officer and a firefighter. They learned that emergency response vehicles struggle to navigate traffic, just like the rest of us do. Even when responders are driving to a call with lights and sirens, drivers of other vehicles often fail to move to the right, either because traffic is too busy or drivers are unable to hear approaching emergency vehicles. S Cubed decided to prototype a device that can sense an approaching emergency response vehicle and broadcast an announcement through speaker systems of nearby vehicles, directing drivers to safely pull to the right.
While S Cubed doesn’t have a final robot design yet, the team has decided on the specific missions they are interested in accomplishing this year. Each member has had an opportunity to prototype an arm design for a mission of their choosing and partnered up to determine the best ways to combine arm designs to create the most efficient robot design possible. The team will will use Friday Exploration time to focus on robot design and build.
FIRST LEGO League relies on support from Annual Fund donors!
Team Registration: $330 (includes mission models and a mat for the robots)
Regional Tournament Registration: $95
Material costs: $250
Tuition covers approximately 65% of a Gregory School education, or approximately the cost of the salaries and benefits of our amazing faculty.
Every day, donors to the annual fund support student programs, activities, and opportunities such as Team S Cubed.
"Teaching is an invigorating practice. It provides endless opportunities to inspire others and be inspired by others."
Jennifer DeBenedetti graduated from the University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University. She has been teaching in Tucson for 13 years and joined the fifth grade faculty in 2018.