All-girls robotics team earns Team Choice Award

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Memphis BeeCoders coaches Heather Ager, back left, and Josh Mills, back right, pose for a photo with members of the team and the banner they received Wednesday, May 29, 2019 after an assembly at Memphis Elementary School. Last month, the team competed in the FIRST World Championships in Detroit, where they were chosen by their peers at the competition for the Team Choice Award, for teams that best display the core values of FIRST Robotics. (Photo: Brian Wells/Times Herald)

Wearing their yellow team t-shirts, the Memphis BeeCoders were excited to recall their big trip to Detroit last month to the FIRST World Championships. 

“It was crazy,” Memphis Elementary third grader Faith Franklin, 8, said. “There was a whole bunch of other people there.” 

Faith and her teammates, Maddie Mills, 9, Kady Ager, 8, and Kady’s kindergartner sister Page Ager, 6, were called on stage at the big competition to receive their green banner. The girls were chosen by their peers at the competition for the Team Choice Award, for teams that best display the core values of FIRST Robotics. 

“The teams that are there get to choose the award,” said coach and father Josh Mills. “It’s up to the kids.

“I guess they made a good impression.” 

Memphis Elementary had an assembly on Wednesday to recognize the girls.

“My favorite part is probably meeting new people and spending time with friends and family,” Kady Ager said.

Page said she felt proud to be chosen for the award. Maddie said she like spending time with her friends and learning new things. 

Josh Mills said while there weren’t many all-girl teams at the competition, the atmosphere among the kids was inclusive and positive.

The team had to put together a moon base using LEGO bricks and simple mechanisms to accomplish tasks like transporting equipment across the surface of the moon. 

“They can tell you why it’s safer to live in a (moon) crater,” said Heather Ager, another parent coach. “They can tell you what it means to work as a team.” 

The coaches said the girls were at first more interested in playing with the LEGos, but the exercise lead them to become more interested in science, which they see as a benefit of FIRST LEGO League, Jr. 

“I like LEGOs and I like coding and I like engineering,” Faith said. 

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