Maine’s FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) LEGO League Tournament was held in Standish on Dec. 1 with the team from Gray-New Gloucester finishing first in one of the competitive categories.

The Patriot Power Loons team, made up of Alex Cobb, Olivia Giles, Mitchell Giles, Jesse MacDonald, Joshua Moran, Riley Myhaver, Casey Myhaver, Adam Peterlein, and Eric Wilcox, was coached by Andrea Harvey.

The Patriot Power Loons put together an impressive project presentation on recycling and an exciting table-top Lego robotics demonstration. Among the team performance, robotic performance, and technical awards, the Patriot Power Loons were awarded the First Place Project Award for their presentation of their research on trash recycling and scored 115 points in the robotic performance competition.

Gray-New Gloucester competed with 20 other Maine teamsand was sponsored by Woodard and Curran Engineers of Portland and Enercon Technologies of Gray.

The 2007 challenge, Power Puzzle, was based on using robotics and technology to understand the elements of energy use in our world. The Power Puzzle missions got teams to consider the energy choices available and how those choices affect the world. With the Power Puzzle project, teams had the opportunity to look at many types of energy/recycling choices, analyze the possibilities, and work to improve energy use.