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 ALBANY, N.Y. (Dec. 8, 2008) --
North Albany Academy’s “Mindstorm Maniacs”
turned in an outstanding second-place performance in the fourth-annual
FIRST LEGO League Tech Valley Challenge at Rensselaer on Dec. 6.
Coached by Kevin Allen and Mike Lai, North
Albany’s robotics team took home three awards, more than any of its
competitors in the 24-team field of middle schoolers from the Capital
Region and Vermont. North Albany took third place for Consistency and
second place for Design in addition to finishing second in overall
points.
The team's awards are on display in the
school’s main
office.
Members of the Mindstorm Maniacs
get pumped up for the
competition.
“Hats off to our team,” said Principal Dale
Getto. “The team was terrific, as were our ‘cheerleaders’ at the event.
We missed first place by a very slim margin and we are so proud of our
students and their great coaches, Mr. Allen and Mr. Lai.”
The theme of this year's day-long
competition was climate control. The event asked teams to solve a series
of robotics challenges on special LEGO tournament tables. The teams
built and programmed LEGO robots to perform a variety of tasks.
To read more about the competition, check out media coverage in the
Dec. 7 Times Union.
Once again, North Albany Academy would like
to thank Intel Corp. for providing $30,000 to fund the tournament and an
additional $500 to offset the cost for the Mindstorm Maniacs to
participate in the tournament.
The City
School District of Albany serves approximately 8,400 students in 18
elementary, middle and high schools. In addition to neighborhood
schools, the district includes several magnet schools and programs, as
well as other innovative academic opportunities for students. The
district is more than halfway through its comprehensive facilities
project to newly build and/or renovate nearly all of its elementary and
middle schools. The ultimate goal of the facilities project is to
provide schools with the resources necessary to help students succeed in
the 21st century. |
