Two Athens Academy Sparbots robotics teams received trophies at the FIRST Lego League (FLL) regional tournament hosted by the Center for Innovative Teaching in Barrow County, December 11-12, 2021.

Five Athens Academy teams competed in the event, with the Middle School Silver Team #34900 winning the Robot Design award, and the Middle School White Team #6380 winning the Core Values award. The Silver Team is made up of sixth grade students, while the White Team is composed of seventh grade students.

The Middle School Green Team #9844 and both Lower School teams (#39852 and #54956) did very well, with many of the students competing for the first time ever. “Everyone had fun and learned a great deal,” according to Robotics Coordinator Mike Callinan. In addition to Callinan, faculty advisors include Causey Cato, Ryder Crosby, and Mat Lockwood.

In a few weeks, Athens Academy will be notified by the FLL state coordinator at Georgia Tech which teams advance to the FLL super-regional tournament. “There’s still a good chance that the combined scores of each of the teams could allow them to be selected for the super-regional,” says Callinan.

Silver Team #34900, left to right: sixth graders Henry White, Brady Katz, Ben Chappell, Wallace Michalak, Lyla McMahan, and Carson Gober.

White Team #6380, left to right: seventh graders Errin Austin, Eva Saraf, Stafan Radu, Ben Warner, Griffin Woodward, Sean Cao, Tucker Smith, and Sumit Alexander.

Athens Academy is an independent, co-educational school for students in K3 through 12th grade, located on a beautiful 152-acre campus in Northeast Georgia. Now in its 55th year, Athens Academy pursues its mission of “excellence with honor” through academics, athletics, fine arts, and service and leadership. Ranked the #1 private school in Athens, #9 private school in the state of Georgia, and #1 private school outside Metro Atlanta (Niche.com).

For more information, please contact Kelley Cuneo, communications director, at [email protected] or 706-433-2410.