East Islip’s Flaming Hot Legos robotics team – consisting of Acelyn Garcia and Avery Garcia of John F. Kennedy Elementary School and Sonali Kamath from East Islip Middle School – successfully competed in the FIRST Long Island Lego League qualifer tournament, held on Jan. 24 at Mineola High School. During this competition, 140 school and private teams from across Nassau and Suffolk counties vied across six days of qualifiers. 

East Islip competed on the event’s first day against 30 other teams. After three rounds of robot runs – where each robot has 2.5 minutes to complete tasks autonomously, with each task holding different point values – the Flaming Hot Legos took first place with 350 points. Following a 30-minute presentation in front of judges on an archaeology-themed Innovation project and robot design, the team again took the top spot, earning East Islip the Champions Award and an automatic invitation to the FIRST Long Island Regional Championship Tournament, to be held at Hicksville High School on March 8.