SBPLI Celebrates 10 Years of Presenting FIRST® LEGO® League Jr. to Students Across Long Island with Expos at Mineola and Longwood High Schools

Students Prepare to Present their LEGO Models, which this Year will Dive into the season’s
AQUA ADVENTURE^SM Theme

This year marks a full decade since School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc. (SBPLI) began presenting FIRST^® LEGO^® League Jr. to students across the region. What began as a small (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) STEM-focused initiative for students age six to 10 has now grown into a powerhouse program aimed at igniting the creativity of children on nearly 100 teams. Each year, FIRST reveals a new and exciting challenge, dubbed this year as AQUA ADVENTURE^SM, for which students will have to do research and present their findings at one of three FIRST LEGO League Expos.

During this year’s Expos, which are slated to take place Saturday, March 3 at Mineola High School and Sunday, March 4 at Longwood High School, students are asked to navigate the uncharted waters of the Earth’s most important resource. Specifically, they were tasked with discovering from where everyday water resources come, and what happens on its way to consumers. After carefully selecting one way in which they use water and learning as much as possible about the process the water takes to get to that point, the students then work to develop a solution that improves upon the system.

“We are so excited to celebrate 10 years of presenting FIRST LEGO League Jr. to students across the Island,” says Rick Ramhap, Program Director and SBPLI/FIRST Long Island representative. “This program has been especially vital to elementary age students, who acquire real-world skills in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) necessary to succeed in today’s high-tech workforce. As with all FIRST Long Island programs, we project continued growth in the years to come.”

For more information on SBPLI and the FIRST Long Island complement of programs, or to become a sponsor, please visit www.sbpli-lifirst.org.

###

About FIRST^®  
Accomplished inventor Dean Kamen founded FIRST^® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) in 1989 to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people. Based in Manchester, N.H., FIRST designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology, and engineering. With support from over 200 of the Fortune 500 companies and more than $30 million in college scholarships, the not-for-profit organization hosts the FIRST^® Robotics Competition for students in Grades 9-12; FIRST^® Tech Challenge for Grades 7-12; FIRST^® LEGO^® League for Grades 4-8; and FIRST^® LEGO^® League Jr. for Grades K-4. Gracious Professionalism^® is a way of doing things that encourages high-quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community. To learn more about FIRST, go to www.firstinspires.org.

About School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc.
School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc. (SBPLI) is a fully volunteer-run 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1984 by Fred Breithut with the goal of developing partnerships between local high schools and businesses. His goal was to provide students with practical experience and curriculum development, while helping the business community develop its future workforce, which resulted in the formation of over 100 partnerships. In 1999, SBPLI brought the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) to Long Island, which featured just eight FIRST Robotics Competition high school teams. Since then, the Long Island Regional FIRST Robotics Competition has grown to over 50 teams competing each year. SBPLI also hosts Long Island’s annual FIRST LEGO League Qualifying and Championship Tournaments and the FIRST LEGO League Junior Expos, in which over 2,000 elementary and middle school students from Nassau and Suffolk Counties take part each year. In 2016, SBPLI added FIRST Tech Challenge to its roster of programs. For more information about the programs, or to learn how to become a sponsor, visit www.sbpli-lifirst.org.