By Christian Ostorga
With six of its original members still on the team from its rookie season, as well as two returning additions from its sophomore squad, the back to back 2017 & 2018 Programming Award winners have become one of our single most consistent teams to date.
Adding two more trophies to their streak this season, Múcaro Squad proved its dominance once again with an all-around performance at our 2019 FIRST LEGO League PR Championship, and a repeat Robot Game finish at our first annual Off Season Tournament this past weekend.
“Our focus has been inclusion where we welcome all of the ideas of the team members by learning through exploration and practice, as we explore all of the aspects of the problem, and the children incorporate their ideas into a final project. We highlight in the children that you learn with every experience, and that our greatest competition is to improve our performance every year,” says coach Lymari Calero who has shared coaching responsibilities with Yanira Guerrero since the team’s debut in 2016.
The two educators, whose backgrounds also include Agricultural Science (Lymari) and Electrical Engineering (Yanira), started the team as part of Froebel Bilingual School until later transitioning into a community team as some members switched schools; nonetheless, keeping their name which honors the school’s mascot and Puerto Rico’s screech owl, the Múcaro.
At our 2019 Championship, long before announcing the award winners, the wholesome group from Aguadilla was seen huddled together, already congratulating each other on a job well done. Up until that point, the students had exceeded expectations during their judging sessions, receiving high honors in the Core Values category and Robot Design category, including an impressive performance in the Robot Game where they moved seamlessly up the ranks, round after round, until eventually finishing 2nd in points.
Though, after three years of consecutively demonstrating a dominion for programming, where they ultimately stood out most, amongst their peers this season, was their Project. The team’s presentation was unanimously chosen over 29 teams in the competition, a strong confirmation of just how amazing and complete this team really is.
“In terms of programming, workshops were provided so that they could learn the program from a coach of a retired team and also on behalf of Yanira both of us attended Camp Eureka workshops on programming,” adds Lymari in regards to the team’s development.
Known for their calm and loving demeanor, Múcaro Squad is currently on track to become the most successful team *with* the majority of its original members still on the roster. They have yet to go winless during a season, and with their eagerness and discipline to continue growing beyond their current achievements, we can’t imagine where they’ll fall next season.
We want to congratulate Lymari and Yanira for their marvelous contributions to our program, and for all of the hard work they’ve put into their students and their community!
Go Múcaro!
