KINGS PARK, NEW YORK, DECEMBER 19, 2019 – Creativity and science will come together at this season’s FIRST® LEGO® League Long Island Qualifying Tournaments at the following dates and locations:

• Saturday, January 11, 2020 at William Floyd High School, 240 Mastic Beach Road, Mastic Beach, from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
• Saturday, January 25, 2020 at Huntington High School, 188 Oakwood Road, Huntington from 7 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
• Sunday, January 26, 2020 at Huntington High School, 188 Oakwood Road, Huntington from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Saturday, February 8, 2020 at Mineola High School, 10 Armstrong Road, Garden City Park from 7 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
• Sunday, February 9, 2020 at Mineola High School, 10 Armstrong Road, Garden City Park from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

More than 180 Long Island teams of 9- to 14-year-old children and their coaches will demonstrate their problem-solving skills, creative thinking, teamwork, competitive play, sportsmanship, and sense of community in this season’s challenge, CITY SHAPERSM. The local Qualifiers are presented by School-Business Partnerships of Long Island Inc., also known as FIRST Long Island.

For the CITY SHAPER Challenge, FIRST collaborated with experts in the fields of architecture, civil engineering, infrastructure, sustainability, and urban planning. These experts, who made up the Challenge Advisory Team, helped to create a theme and challenge missions that reflect what it takes to design and construct practical, sustainable and beautiful buildings and spaces, catering to the diverse needs of their users.

The competition is judged in three areas: Innovation Project, Robot Design, and Core Values, which embody aspects of teamwork and good sportsmanship. Top robot game scores are also honored as teams will have to program their LEGO MINDSTORMS® robots to solve a set of missions on an obstacle course set on a thematic playing surface.

FIRST LEGO League is an international program for 9- to 16-year-olds (ages vary by country) created in a partnership between FIRST and the LEGO Group in 1998 to get children excited about science and technology – and teach them valuable career and life skills. Using LEGO® MINDSTORMS® technologies and LEGO® Education materials, children work alongside adult Mentors to design, build, and program autonomous robots and create an innovative solution to a problem as part of their research project. After eight intense weeks, the competition season culminates at high-energy, sports-like tournaments. Like any other organized “sport,” teams also fundraise, create a team identity, and go on field trips.

Currently in its 21st year, FIRST LEGO League anticipates participation by approximately 38,800 teams in more than 100 countries competing in hundreds of qualifying tournaments and championship tournaments. About 310,000 children will compete to win honors and recognition. Teams will also have the opportunity to participate at the FIRST LEGO League World Festival, to be held in conjunction with the FIRST Championship in Detroit in April.

“The FIRST LEGO League students on Long Island will be working diligently to identify real-life problems we face when constructing and designing new buildings in our community,” says Stephanie Stern, FIRST LEGO League Co-Director. “It’s amazing how passionate they are about finding a solution. It’s going to be really exciting to see what they devise when they present at the Qualifiers.”

*Admission to the FIRST LEGO League event is open to the public and is FREE-of-charge.

For more information, visit www.sbpli-lifirst.org.