[Kings Park, NY] — School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc. (SBPLI) and the Longwood Central School District will present the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) LEGO League (FLL) Championship Tournament and the Junior FLL Expo.

FLL students will take part in the FOOD FACTOR® Challenge. In the FOOD FACTOR Challenge, teams will build, test, and program an autonomous robot using LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT to solve a set of food safety missions as well as research, develop, and share their innovative solutions to improve the world’s current food preparation processes.

Meanwhile, Jr. FLL participants will take part in the Snack Attack Challenge. In the Snack Attack Challenge, students will take a “hands on” approach to the topic of food safety by exploring how proper preparation and storage can help keep us healthy. Teams will learn about simple machines as they build a model made of LEGO elements with a motorized moving part, and will create a team Show-Me Poster to represent their Snack Attack findings.
WHAT: Local elementary and middle school children go head-to-head, putting eight weeks of research, design, and programming to the test in a regional FLL Championship Tournament and Jr. FLL Expo to win honors and recognition. The FLL season will culminate with the FLL World Festival at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, Missouri, on April 26-28.

WHEN: Sunday, March 4, 2012

8:30 a.m. — Doors open

9:00 a.m.-noon — Jr. FLL Expo

9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. — FLL Championships

** PLEASE NOTE: In the event of inclement weather, the tournament will be rescheduled for Sunday, March 11. **

WHERE: Longwood High School

100 Longwood Road, Middle Island, NY



VISUALS: - Amazing, custom-built robots come to life in fast-paced, timed competitions

- Local children and their coaches putting designs and skills to the test

- On-site teamwork, troubleshooting, problem solving

- Food preparation processing research projects on display

- Spirit and excitement as students, families, friends cheer for their local teams



*Access to and interviews with students, teachers, coaches, mentors and local sponsors available upon request.



DIRECTIONS: LIE Exit 66 North (CR 101/E. Patchogue-Yaphank Rd/Sills Rd.) Turn left at CR 101/E. Patchogue-Yaphank Rd/Sills Rd. After 0.2 mile, bear left to stay on CR 101. After 1.1 miles, continue on CR 21 N/Yaphank-Middle Island Rd. Go 1.6 miles, then turn right on Longwood Rd. Go 0.6 mile. School is on the right hand side.

ABOUT FIRSTTM

Accomplished inventor Dean Kamen founded FIRSTTM (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) in 1989 to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people. Based in Manchester, N.H., FIRST designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology, and engineering. With the support of many of the world’s most well-known companies, the not-for-profit organization hosts the FIRST Robotics Competition and FIRST Tech Challenge for high-school students, FIRST LEGO® League for children 9-14 years old, and Junior FIRST LEGO League for 6 to 9 year-olds. To learn more about FIRST, go to www.usfirst.org. To learn more about the “Smart Move” Challenge, go to www.usfirst.org/community/fll/.



ABOUT THE LEGO GROUP

LEGO Systems Inc. (LSI) is the Americas (North America and Latin America) division of The LEGO Group, a privately-held firm based in Billund, Denmark. The LEGO Group is committed to the development of children's creative and imaginative abilities through high-quality, creatively educational play materials, and its employees are guided by the motto adopted in the 1930s by founder Ole Kirk Christiansen: "Only the best is good enough." For more information, visit www.LEGO.com



FIRST is a trademark of US FIRST.

LEGO and the LEGO logo are trademarks of The LEGO Group. © 2009 The LEGO Group.

School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc. (SBPLI) was founded in 1984 by Fred Breithut with the goal of developing partnerships between local high schools and businesses that would provide students with practical experience and curriculum development, while helping the business community develop its future workforce. Over 100 partnerships have been formed. In 1999, SBPLI brought the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) robotics program to Long Island, where eight high school teams participated. Since then, the FIRST robotics program has grown to 50 teams, with over 2,300 students participating in FIRST Robotics and LEGO League programs on Long Island each year. The 2012 FIRST Robotics Competition will be held at Hofstra University on March 29-31, 2012.

Hank Russell, Public Relations Director
The Public Relations and Marketing Group
156 North Ocean Avenue
Patchogue, NY 11772
(631) 207-1057
hrussell@theprmg.com

This release was published on openPR.