Longford school wins award at the First Lego League tournament

Celebrations were in order for The Mercy Secondary School in Ballymahon, Longford, last Thursday when they took home the Core Values Award at the TU Shannon 1 First Lego League Unearthed tournament in Athlone last Thursday. 

First place went to The Fossil Finders team from Stokane National School in Enniscrone, Sligo, who will now go on to compete at the Ireland Final in March, joining top-scoring teams from regional tournaments taking place across the country.

Other winners included Our Lady's Bower Secondary School in Athlone, Westmeath, who won the Innovation Project Award, Team Deep Logic from Mullingar Community College in Westmeath who won the Robot game category, and Team Artifact Avengers from Dalystown National School in Westmeath who were the recipients of the Robot Design Award. 

Read more: Longford residents take part in housing body’s 30th anniversary project to plant 600 trees

One of Ireland’s most successful and long-running STEM education, First Lego League invites children and young people to take part in an exciting blend of research, creativity and robotics.

Now celebrating its 10th year in Ireland, more than 35,000 young people have taken part since the programme first launched here. Its hands-on learning approach not only builds technical skills, organisers say, but helps young people use technology meaningfully, encouraging independent thinking, clearer communication, and creative problem-solving rooted in real-world challenges.

This year’s theme, Unearthed, invited teams to dig into the past, uncover hidden treasures, mysterious artefacts, and forgotten stories. 

Dr Ruth Freeman, Director of Research for Society at Research Ireland, says the initiative aligns strongly with their mission to widen participation in STEM.

“Teaching teamwork, design and programming skills, based around childhood LEGO building bricks is inspired. Science and technical skills can be fun and engaging, and the secret for educators is to find the fun and games, and the story-telling and puzzles, to awaken young people’s minds to the enjoyment and fascination of science”.

Read more: ‘Clear plan’ needed to ensure Longford St Patrick’s Day parade proceeds