Mark Murphy, Cathy Dingman and Julie Pagel, all of the Webster City Community School District, listen as Mayor John Hawkins reads a proclamation at Monday evening's city council meeting declaring Saturday, December 2, 2023, as FIRST LEGO League day in Webster City.

Webster City High School will once again be the site for this year’s FIRST LEGO League regional qualifying competition, one of 12 around the state.

FIRST — For Interest and Recognition of Science and Technology — has been in Iowa since 2001. Several past regional competitions have been held in Webster City.

According to Mark Murphy, director of Technology for the Webster City Community School District, 17 teams from across Iowa are expected for the competition which will be held in the WCHS competition gym on Saturday, December 2.

Teams fall into two classes: one for fourth- to eighth-graders, and another, known as FIRST LEGO League Explorers, for second and third graders. Three teams from Webster City will compete: one from Sunset Heights Elementary, and two from Webster City Middle School.

The competition starts at 8 a.m. when the west doors at WCHS will open.

Teams will display and operate robots they designed and built from LEGO blocks for referees and spectators throughout the morning. Scores for each team will be posted at the end of each round.

A second aspect of the competition is “the innovation project,” in which judges ask teams a series of questions. Judges evaluate how well teams adhere to the core values of FIRST, including friendly sportsmanship, learning, teamwork, equity, diversity and inclusion.

Murphy explained, “The same rubrics we’ll be using to judge these projects here are used worldwide.”

Rubrics help students better understand the objectives of the competition, monitor their own progress, and improve their work over time. They allow instructors to clarify and explain expectations of students, and their advisors, and allow consistent, fair judging among teams and projects.

Closing ceremonies will begin at 12:25 p.m. in the competition gym, during which teams with the top five scores will be announced.

These teams will advance to a statewide tournament, held early in 2024.

FIRST LEGO League was co-founded in 1998 by Dean Kamen, inventor of the two-wheeled Segway and IBOT, and Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, owner of The LEGO Group, manufacturer of LEGO blocks. It’s a worldwide organization dedicated to stimulating interest in science, engineering and technology among young students, and prepare them for possible careers in STEM fields.

Top FIRST LEGO League teams are eligible to compete for college scholarship funds.