December 16, 2024
South Sumter Middle School Bots Team Advance To Regional Competition
By Kyle Coppola
South Sumter Middle School Bots Team Advance To Regional Competition
Webster, Florida– The South Sumter Middle School Raider Bots team has earned a spot in the regional round of the First Lego League Challenge Division. The team secured their advancement at the qualifying tournament held at Tuskawilla Middle School on December 7, 2024.
Since September, the Raider Bots have been working diligently after school to design, build, code, and test a robot capable of completing intricate themed challenges on a competition board. This year’s theme, Mastering the Oceans, inspired teams to explore and solve real-world problems related to marine environments. Using Lego Education SPIKE Prime technology, the Raider Bots have been tackling missions involving coding, engineering, and innovative problem-solving.
(Raider Bots participate in a scrimmage at Montverde Academy to receive feedback on their robot and innovation project.)
As part of their preparation, the team conducted extensive research on oceanic challenges. They interviewed a marine biologist and an ocean photographer and attended STEM Day at SeaWorld to gain deeper insights. Their chosen project focuses on capturing images of the ocean’s deepest parts by developing a submersible camera device powered by clean, renewable energy. The students have created a Lego model of their innovation and are currently working on a functional prototype.
In October, the Raider Bots participated in a scrimmage at Montverde Academy to receive feedback on their robot and innovation project. They returned to fine-tune their work, culminating in a successful performance this past Saturday. Competing against 15 teams, the Raider Bots earned one of the six coveted spots for the regional competition, scheduled for January 10–11, 2025, at SeaWorld in Orlando. There, 56 teams from across Central Florida will vie for a chance to advance to the state-level competition.
The team’s journey has been supported by the SECO Foundation through a mini-grant, making their achievements possible.
Career and Technical Education (CTE) initiatives like this empower students to acquire real-world skills and hands-on experience, preparing them for future careers in high-demand industries. With accessible enrollment, practical learning opportunities, and pathways to certification, CTE programs open doors to immediate career prospects while minimizing educational costs.
The Raider Bots’ success showcases the impact of innovative, STEM-focused education, offering a glimpse of a promising future for these young problem-solvers and engineers.
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
