NIHERST, under the auspices of the Honourable Minister of Education, Mr. Anthony Garcia of the Ministry of Education, will host the FIRST® LEGO® League National Championship on Saturday 23rd March 2019. Trinidad and Tobago is blazing a trail as the first country to host this programme and event in the English speaking Caribbean. Aimed at engaging children in playful and meaningful learning while helping them discover the fun in science and technology, FIRST ® LEGO® League challenges children in over 80 countries to think like scientists and engineers.

This local initiative has been sponsored by Shell Trinidad Ltd., the official Social Investment Partner for the 2018 cycle. NIHERST, the Operational Partner, will deliver and manage the programme for the 2018-2019 season themed “Into Orbit”.

During the Into Orbit season, teams choose and solve a real-world problem in the Project. They build, test, and program robots using LEGO MINDSTORMS® technology. Nineteen teams from various secondary schools will be competing for this year’s trophy. The winning team will represent Trinidad and Tobago at the World Festival in Houston, Texas, April 2019.

About FIRST® LEGO® League

Every year, FIRST® LEGO® League releases a Challenge, which is based on a real-world scientific topic. Each Challenge has three parts: a Robot Game, the Project, and the Core Values. Teams of children, with at least two adult coaches, participate in the Challenge by programming an autonomous robot to score points on a themed playing field (Robot Game), developing a solution to a problem they have identified (Project), all guided by the FIRST® LEGO® League Core Values.

Past Challenges have been based on topics such as nanotechnology, climate, quality of life for the handicapped population, transportation, animal allies and hydro dynamics. By designing our Challenges around such topics, participants are exposed to potential career paths within a chosen Challenge topic, in addition to solidifying the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) principles that naturally come from participating in the program. Team members also learn valuable life and employment skills which will benefit them no matter which career path they choose.