FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge

FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge — BIOGLOW™

Ages 9–15 | Mondays, 1:00–4:00 PM | 20-Week Season

Oak & Arrow Academy | Golden Gate Estates, Naples, Florida

Design • Build • Code • Innovate

FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge is so much more than building LEGO® robots!

At Oak & Arrow Academy, students spend a 20-week season developing real-world STEM, engineering, coding, research, leadership, communication, and problem-solving skills through a hands-on, team-based program in a Christ-centered environment.

Students design and program a LEGO® SPIKE™ Prime robot, complete missions on the official FIRST® Challenge field, investigate a real-world problem through the Innovation Project, and prepare to present their work and compete as a team.

To provide a high-quality, mentorship-focused experience, team enrollment is limited to just six students. This allows for individualized coaching, meaningful collaboration, and strong relationships between students, coaches, and families.

What Students Will Learn

Throughout the class and competition season, students will have opportunities to develop and practice:

LEGO® robot design and engineering
LEGO® SPIKE™ Prime programming and coding
Motors, sensors, gears, attachments, and mechanical systems
Engineering design: design → build → test → improve → retest
Programming sequences, loops, conditions, and variables
Robot navigation, distance, speed, turns, and timing
Coding, debugging, testing, and troubleshooting
Strategic Robot Game planning
Problem-solving and critical thinking
Creative design and innovation
Engineering notebook documentation
Research and the FIRST® Innovation Project
Identifying and investigating real-world problems
Interviewing and learning from professionals and experts
Brainstorming and developing innovative solutions
Creating prototypes and models
Receiving feedback and improving ideas
Time management and project planning
Teamwork and collaboration
Leadership and communication skills
Public speaking and presentation skills
Answering questions and thinking on their feet
FIRST® Core Values and Gracious Professionalism®
Competition preparation and practice matches
Confidence, perseverance, and performing under pressure

Robotics & Engineering

Students will design and build a functioning LEGO® robot while learning how gears, motors, sensors, attachments, and mechanical systems work together.

They will experience the engineering design process firsthand: design, build, test, fail, improve, and retest.

Students learn that engineering rarely means getting everything right the first time. Instead, they develop perseverance, flexibility, and the ability to evaluate a problem and improve their design.

Coding & Computational Thinking

Students program their LEGO® SPIKE™ Prime robot to operate autonomously during the Robot Game.

They will develop introductory and intermediate programming skills while working with motors, sensors, sequences, loops, conditions, variables, navigation, turns, distance, speed, and timing.

Students also learn how to break complicated challenges into smaller steps, debug their code, and improve the robot's accuracy and consistency.

Strategy & Problem-Solving

The official FIRST® Challenge field presents teams with multiple missions and a limited amount of time.

Students must determine which missions to attempt, how missions can be combined, how attachments should be designed, and how to create reliable strategies.

This develops planning, prioritization, analytical thinking, decision-making, time management, and problem-solving skills.

Innovation Project & Real-World Research

A major component of FIRST LEGO League Challenge is the Innovation Project.

Students investigate a real-world problem connected to the season's theme. As a team, they research the subject, identify a specific problem, learn from experts, brainstorm possible solutions, develop an innovative idea, create a prototype or model when appropriate, receive feedback, improve their solution, and ultimately present their work to judges.

Field Trips & Learning From Experts

Throughout the season, students may participate in educational field trips and opportunities to interact with professionals related to the year's Innovation Project.

Depending on the season's theme, these experiences may include local businesses, engineering firms, manufacturing facilities, science centers, aquariums, environmental organizations, technology companies, universities, or STEM professionals.

These real-world experiences help students ask meaningful questions and connect what they are learning to actual careers, industries, challenges, and solutions.

Public Speaking & Presentation Skills

Competition isn't only about the robot.

Students learn how to clearly communicate their research, engineering process, Innovation Project, robot design, and team experience to judges.

They practice speaking confidently, explaining ideas, demonstrating their robot, answering unscripted questions, presenting research, defending engineering decisions, and thinking on their feet.

Teamwork & Leadership

FIRST LEGO League is a team experience.

Students learn to cooperate, listen to different ideas, delegate responsibilities, resolve disagreements, encourage teammates, handle pressure, follow through on commitments, and discover their individual strengths.

One student may discover a passion for coding, another for engineering, another for research, strategy, leadership, or public speaking. Every student has an important role on the team.

A Christ-Centered Learning Environment

At Oak & Arrow Academy, FIRST LEGO League is about more than STEM and competition.

Students receive intentional Christian mentorship and discipleship throughout the season. We encourage biblical character, integrity, servant leadership, perseverance, humility, kindness, respect, stewardship of talents, and a Christ-centered approach to working together.

Students are encouraged to learn how to compete with excellence while demonstrating grace, integrity, encouragement, and respect—honoring Christ in both winning and losing.

Outdoor Recreation & Team Building

Each week also includes intentional outdoor recreation and team-building opportunities.

Students have time to build friendships, develop confidence, practice leadership, strengthen team relationships, and enjoy active play in a safe, supervised environment.

Competition Experience

The season culminates in participation in an official FIRST® LEGO® League tournament, where students bring together everything they have learned.

Competition day may include Robot Game matches, judging sessions, Innovation Project presentations, questions from judges, unexpected robot challenges, deadlines, victories, disappointments, and the excitement of representing their team.

Students learn something competition uniquely provides: how to prepare for something difficult, perform under pressure, recover when something goes wrong, encourage their teammates, and finish strong.

Small-Team Mentorship

Our Challenge team is intentionally limited to six students.

Because team members work closely together throughout the entire season and prepare together for competition, families will complete an application process to help ensure a good fit and a shared commitment to the team.

Tuition & Materials Fee

Tuition: $1,000 per student
Materials & Supplies Fee: $200
Total Program Cost: $1,000

The materials and supplies fee helps cover LEGO® and robotics materials, Innovation Project supplies, engineering and presentation materials, and other hands-on resources used throughout the season.

Program Details

Ages: 9–15
Day: Mondays
Time: 1:00–4:00 PM
Season Length: 20 weeks
Team Size: Maximum of 6 students
Tuition: $1,000
Materials & Supplies Fee: $200
Total Program Cost: $1,000
Location: Oak & Arrow Academy, 440 9th St. NW, Golden Gate Estates, Naples, Florida

Competition Schedule: Tournament dates and the final December–February schedule will be determined as official Southwest Florida FIRST® competition dates are released.

This isn't just a robotics team—it's a Christ-centered learning community where students grow in engineering, coding, innovation, leadership, teamwork, character, confidence, and faith while preparing together for competition.

Meet Your Coaches

We are excited to be entering our fifth year coaching FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge!

Our FIRST LEGO League journey began in 2019, and over the years, we have had the privilege of coaching students through incredibly rewarding seasons filled with learning, teamwork, challenges, competition, and plenty of memorable moments.

Each season, our teams have earned trophies and awards, but some of our greatest accomplishments have been watching students grow in confidence, perseverance, leadership, problem-solving, and their ability to work together toward a common goal.

Through years of coaching, we have developed extensive hands on experience with the many different components of FIRST LEGO League from robot design, building, programming, and Robot Game strategy to the Innovation Project, Core Values, judging rubrics, presentations, competition preparation, and the overall tournament process.

We also believe some of the best learning happens beyond the classroom. We enjoy incorporating field trips, real-world research, guest experts, team-building experiences, and hands-on opportunities that help students connect each season's challenge to the world around them.

One of the greatest advantages we bring to our team is our understanding of the entire LEGO League experience. We know what students are preparing for, what judges are looking for, how the different portions of the competition fit together, and how to help a team progress from the beginning of the season all the way through competition day.

Most importantly, we love mentoring young people.

t Oak & Arrow Academy, LEGO League is about more than building robots and winning trophies.

As a Christian learning community, we want our students to grow academically and technically while also developing biblical character, integrity, perseverance, servant leadership, teamwork, and confidence.

Our goal is to create an environment where students are challenged, encouraged, and given opportunities to discover their God-given abilities while learning how to use those gifts as part of a team.

We build robots, but we are also building thinkers, problem-solvers, leaders, teammates, and young people of character.

What We Expect From Our

LEGO League Families

FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge is a team experience, and every student plays an important role in the success of the team. Because our team is intentionally limited to only six students, we ask families to view enrollment as a commitment for the entire season rather than simply a weekly class. Parents can expect their student to be challenged to participate, collaborate, problem-solve, complete projects, prepare presentations, design and program the robot, and work toward competition goals. Consistent attendance and arriving on time are especially important because when one student is absent, it can affect the progress of the entire team.

We also ask parents to be active partners throughout the season. This includes encouraging your student to persevere when things become challenging, helping them arrive prepared and on time, communicating with coaches, participating in occasional field trips or team activities when needed, and supporting the team as we approach tournaments and other important deadlines. There may be times during the competition season when additional practices or preparation outside our regular meeting time are necessary. We ask families to remain flexible and committed to finishing the season strong together.

As a Christian learning community, we also ask families to support the Christ-centered culture of our team. We will intentionally encourage prayer, biblical character, integrity, kindness, humility, perseverance, servant leadership, and respect for coaches and teammates. Our goal is to create a close-knit team where students and parents encourage one another, work through challenges in a healthy way, celebrate one another's successes, and recognize that how we treat one another is just as important as what we accomplish.

When your child joins our LEGO League team, your family becomes part of the team too. We want parents, students, and coaches working together toward the same goal: giving our students an exceptional LEGO League experience while helping them grow in knowledge, confidence, character, leadership, and faith.