Legos Shaping Life Skills

By: Garrett Galvin

I love Legos. Legos were a staple of my early childhood because they allowed me to be creative. I asked for them for every holiday, birthday, and party. So naturally, in 5th grade, I was drawn to the idea of Lego League. Now, being the little 5th grader I was, I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but as long as it included the word Lego, I didn’t care. When I arrived at the first meeting, I was surprised to see on the table, not a box of simple snap brick legos, but a pile of wires, motors, and brackets. My confusion soon turned into eager curiosity when I learned that I would be able to use these parts to create my very own little robot. I passionately worked on my tiny machine for hours, the possibilities of what I could create were truly endless. This event sparked the light of STEM in my heart and it pushed me to join the Ames High Robotics team, Team Photon, where I am still using STEM and teamwork to design and create working machines. This High School STEM club even gave me the ability to reach out into the community and coach my very own Lego League team at the elementary school where I was given my first experience in STEM. It was a truly inspiring experience to see the smiles grow on kids faces when they learned that they too could build their own robot. Even though I didn’t know it at the time, Lego League shaped a large part of not only my future, but also the future of my own community. Because I was given this opportunity to design and be creative, I now know that I want to go to college to become a mechanical engineer. Giving students the opportunity to be creative and explore new hobbies helps give them a better sense of direction in their life, and allows them to find their own passion.