FIRST LEGO League Challenge

3M has been a major sponsor of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition in Science and Technology) LEGO League since 2001. 3M employees are involved as coaches, assistants, mentors, competition referees and judges.

Being a coach of a team of seven energized seventh-graders can be daunting. Just ask Jim Burke, research specialist, Display and Graphics Business Laboratory, who was a first-time assistant coach last year for his daughter’s middle school team.

Burke and his five children all love to play with LEGOS. His march toward becoming a coach began when he purchased a LEGO Mindstorms robotic kit on eBay so that he and his kids could build and program their own robots at home.

Soon he was recruited by the school team to help with programming and mechanical design. "It was pretty chaotic at times trying to get our team of boys and girls to stay on task," Burke said. "But the support offered at 3M by experienced coaches and through FIRST LEGO League gave us useful information on what to expect from the kids, as well as technical tips for success."

Daughter and dad both enjoyed the experience. "Besides the technology learning, my daughter learned something about the life skill of working with others toward a goal under sometimes adverse circumstances, such as when you must work out differences of opinion with your teammates about how to proceed with the research project or how to fix a programming problem with your robot," Burke noted. "Plus the tournaments are really exciting."