William Floyd High School recently hosted two FIRST LEGO League qualifying events, bringing together more than 40 teams from across Long Island. The competition offered students an opportunity to advance to the championship events scheduled for March. Seven teams from William Floyd School District participated at the elementary and middle school levels, while the high school team attended to support and encourage younger students. Four William Floyd teams received overall awards, and three schools—Moriches Elementary School, Tangier Smith Elementary School, and William Floyd Elementary School—qualified for the next round.
The competition's theme this year was "UNEARTHED," presented by Haas. Teams were challenged to use STEM skills and teamwork to explore engineering solutions that reimagine historical discoveries.
Among the winners was MorDynamics from Moriches Elementary School, led by advisors Briana Ferguson and Josh Haight. The team earned the Engineering Excellence Award, which "celebrates a team with an efficiently designed robot, an innovative project solution that effectively addresses the challenge and displays core values in all that they do." Team members included Brayden Onza, Logan Stark, Blakely Bruno, Alex Hoag, Dylan Moposita, Zachary Tucker, Anthony Scheifele, Taylor Meyer, Simina Johnson, Brendan Formato and Aria Conley. MorDynamics advanced to the championship round.
Tangier Smith Elementary School’s Techbots won the Champions Award (First Finalists). Advisors Chanda Zadrazil and Andrew Demasi led a group recognized as "a team that embodies the FIRST LEGO League Challenge experience by fully embracing core values while achieving excellence and innovation in the categories of Robot Performance, Robot Design, and the Innovation Project." Team members were Avianna Holmes, Ronin Goldsborough, Ryleigh Berryman, Kailee Scala, Sage Almonte, Kenneth Hyde, Raymond Sullivan, Jayla Ruiz and Jackson Vann. The Techbots also advanced.
The Floydbots from William Floyd Elementary School received the Core Values Award under advisors Alba McKibbin and Janine Baumiller. This award honors "a team that displays extraordinary enthusiasm and spirit; exemplifies teamwork; discovery; inclusion; innovation; impact; fun – while showing respect for their teammates & competitors." Members included Logan Sprance, Tristan Reyes, Taha Yahyaoui, Braxton Hornung, Habiba Barrie, Harper Smith and Karissa Keenan. They will compete in next month’s championship.
John S. Hobart Elementary School’s New Kids on the Block took home the Innovation Project Award (First Finalist), guided by Kristine Dunscombe and Jacqueline Chartrand. The award is given to teams "that use diverse resources for their ‘Innovation Project’ to help gain a comprehensive understanding of the program; formulate a creative well-researched solution; effectively communicate their findings to judges & community." Team members were Alyssa Tonry, Olivia Tonry, Hunter Walsh, Anthony Maselli, Caroline Keahon John Echevarria Tristan Echevarria Scarlett Stevens.
Other district teams competing included Nathaniel Woodhull Elementary’s TechTitans (advisors Stacy Callan/Joanna Foulkes), William Paca Middle School’s RoboWolves (advisor Robert Acierno), William Floyd Middle School’s FloydStrong MS (advisor Sean McGovern), as well as support from William Floyd High School Robotics Team 287 (Hurricane Floyd – advisors Joseph Brand/Joseph Carpinone/Roxana Casey).
The event began with a performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” by high school students Frankie Mattera Dylan Reynolds Shirley Galindo Jeronimo Aiden Rodriguez.
Organizers acknowledged Dr. Keith Fasciana of William Floyd Elementary School along with Board of Education Trustee Jennifer Heitman for their work coordinating this event over three years. Thanks were also extended to PTOs and local businesses supporting through sponsorships or donations.
William Floyd School District operates 10 schools—including elementary schools like those represented at this event—and serves more than 9,400 students in grades K-12 according to its official website. The district emphasizes collaboration among students educators staff parents and community members to foster student development across multiple areas within a supportive environment (source). Alumni have been recognized for contributions in scholarships education leadership community service (source). Additionally its music program has received recognition among top communities for music education (source).