JAY — The Spruce Mountain Area Robotic Team will host the Western Maine FIRST Lego League qualifier on Saturday, Nov. 19, at Spruce Mountain High School in Jay.

Up to 32 teams of middle school students from central Maine will compete for awards and a spot at the Maine FIRST Lego League Championships at the Augusta Civic Center on Dec. 10.

FIRST stands for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.

Organizers are looking for volunteers to help make the Nov. 19 event a success.

Teams of students ages 9 through 14 design, build and program Lego Mindstorm robots to compete on a 4- by 8-foot table.

The theme is Animal Allies and the goal is to make life better through animal-human interaction. The competition also includes a research project with a five-minute presentation on a related issue.

“We’ve had Lego League in our community for over a decade,” said Rob Taylor, head of the Spruce Mountain Middle School Lego League program. “We’re so lucky to have the support of so many community members and businesses. Assisting with the qualifier is a great way to support this program. Anyone can help, regardless of experience.” 

Judges are sought for the following:

• Research projects and teamwork competition.

• Evaluating the robots and the programming code. Judges for the the latter should have experience with code. The judging will be held in the morning. 

Judges can work in the morning, afternoon, or both. Training for all judges and table workers will begin at 8:15 a.m. Nov. 19. Anyone interested in serving as a judge should contact Kathleen Pike at 207-897-5815 or joel.kathleen@roadrunner.com.

Other volunteers are sought to fill the following roles:

• Observers for tables in the afternoon, when the robots will compete in the gym; 

• Referees, scorers and table re-setters in the afternoon;

• Registration workers, team greeters and scorekeepers;

• Concession stand workers; 

• Bakers and other food providers; and

• Donors of cash to buy merchandise for raffles.

Bakers and food providers should contact Contact Sarah Delaney at 207-897-0978 or rdelaney5@roadrunner.com. Those interested in donating cash to purchase merchandise for raffles should contact Dan Lemieux at dlemieux@rsu73.com or Rob Taylor at rtaylor@rsu73.com. 

Upcoming events:

• Nov. 9 at 6 p.m. — Mandatory meeting at Spruce Mountain High School library for all students and parents working at the Nov. 19 qualifier.

• Nov. 18 and 19 — Set up for qualifier and sign up for job assignments with Pike or Lemieux. Contact Pike at 207-897-5815 or joel.kathleen@roadrunner.com, or Lemieux at dlemieux@rsu73.com.

pharnden@sunmediagroup.net