FLL
Team STEAM is excited to be starting a FIRST® LEGO® League (FLL) team this fall! We are still working out the final details, but in the meantime please fill out the form below to stay up to date with the latest news regarding this opportunity.
Please note: Filling out the form below does not guarantee your student a place on our FLL team. We hope to expand the program to more of our elementary and middle schools; however, in our first year we anticipate only offering this opportunity to one or two schools (we do not know yet which schools those will be). Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns!
Frequently Asked Questions
FLL is a program offered by FIRST robotics for students in grades K-8. Our team will be an FLL: Challenge team which serves grades 4-8. This program offers students the ability to build and program robots with LEGOs to compete against other teams. To learn more about FLL visit: https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/fll
FIRST Robotics will release the new challenge for the 2025-26 FLL season sometime in August. We hope to have final details of our team ironed out before the new school year begins! Please fill out the form above to stay up to date on the latest information regarding our FLL team.
We expect our team to meet 2 times a week for roughly 1.5 hours at a time. Students may be asked to do work at home between meetings but most of our work will be done as a team during team meetings!
We expect our FLL team to begin meeting in September and then compete at a KC area tournament in November or December. If our team does well enough, we may have the opportunity to advance to the KC Regional Championships in January.
One of our Team STEAM mentors, Dr. Grace Young, will be the head coach of our FLL team. She has 14 years of FIRST Robotics experience and 4 years of experience as the head coach of an FLL team. Our team will also be assisted by other mentors and high school members of Team STEAM.
Not at all! Our FLL team is designed for beginners, and no prior STEM experience is required. Students will learn everything they need through hands-on activities and mentorship from experienced Team STEAM members and coaches.
On an FLL team, your student will gain hands-on experience in science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) through exciting, project-based learning. They’ll develop critical thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration skills by designing, building, and programming LEGO robots to complete various challenges. Additionally, they’ll learn about real-world issues and apply creative thinking to develop innovative solutions. Along the way, they’ll build confidence, resilience, and teamwork — all while having fun in a supportive and engaging environment!
We are still working on the logistics of our FLL team. Currently, Team STEAM only serves high school students that attend USD 497, however, we are looking into options for hosting students from other schools in Lawrence! Even if your student doesn’t attend USD 497, please fill out the form above and you’ll be sent updates on whether your student will be able to join our team!
Like a lot of things: we’re still working on the details! As a member of the team your student will receive a team shirt and lunch on the day of our event. We expect registration for the team to be around $50-$100 per student. However, Team STEAM is committed to offering STEAM opportunities for everyone! Membership scholarships will be available if the registration fee is restrictive for your family.
Our team is supported by Team STEAM members and coaches. Parents are welcome, but not required, to come to meetings to help! Towards our competition parents may be asked to volunteer their time to help make posters and other presentation materials for our team.