This Article was Written by Team Over Coded
FLL, or First Lego League, is a competition in which teams of students ages 9-14 engage in research, problem-solving, coding, and engineering. Each team perfects building and programming a robot that navigates the missions of a Robot Game. After months of practice, teams participate in a competition against other teams.
Our FLL team #57964, Team Over Coded, is made up of four girls: Nirali, Mavya, Ahna, and Arianna. We are also members of Scouts BSA all-girls Troop: Troop 1920.
Our journey this FLL Season of 2023-2024 lasted about nine months. From our qualifier, where 24 teams competed, we advanced to the State competition after winning 2nd place. Out of 60 teams at States, we were among the top seven teams chosen to advance to nationals. Our Nationals competition was in New Jersey, where over 80 teams from around the country competed among each other, and the competition lasted two days.
FLL has multiple aspects, including Robot Games, Robot Presentations, Core Values, and Innovation Projects.
Robot Games allow teams to compete against each other with the robots they built and programmed to complete as many missions as possible in under 2 minutes and 30 seconds, gaining points for each mission completed.
Robot Presentations are where judges take a closer look at your code and robot, interviewing the team about the key factors of the robot they have built and the techniques used in both building and coding.
Core Values are judged based on how well the team demonstrates the six core values: Discovery, Innovation, Impact, Inclusion, Teamwork, and Fun.
Innovation Projects allows teams to research a problem that addresses the season’s annual theme. This year’s prompt was choosing a hobby your team has and solving a problem associated with the hobby. Our Innovation Project was “How to Make Scouts BSA More Approachable to Girls.”
Because of these aspects, teams create presentations and scripts to present to a group of judges.
We interviewed multiple people, both kids and adults, and asked about their hobbies, their kid’s hobbies, and why they chose those hobbies. People responded with various answers, but almost everybody mentioned they wanted to gain essential life skills from their activities. We found that kids and parents experiment with different hobbies before finding one that truly offers benefits. This process demands significant time, effort, and money. We found scouting to be a great platform.
Scouting was historically gender-segregated, and despite changes allowing girls to join, awareness of this inclusivity remains limited. Many people don’t know that Scouts BSA is also available to girls. When we say we are in Boy Scouts, many try to correct us, thinking we meant Girl Scouts. Our approach was to develop a strategy to effectively promote scouting for girls, aiming to raise awareness and empower them through diverse opportunities.
As a sample solution, we developed a multimedia campaign including TikTok videos, Instagram posts, and more to showcase scouting activities to multiple audiences, including kids our age and adults! Our troop Scoutmaster, Mrs. Carolyn Hurt, and District Commissioner of Scouts BSA, Mr. Alex Pranger, provided great guidance for us!
However, planting native species was only the first step in park restoration, and the second part involved removing invasive species. It is a necessary part of this project to help the native plants thrive. Invasive species are known to outcompete native plants for resources, which can disrupt the balance of ecosystems and pose a serious threat to all wildlife within them. Removing invasive species at Glyndon Park will help ensure the park’s newly planted native species thrive in the future. Some of the invasive species removed that threatened native wildlife included English ivy, periwinkle, leatherleaf mahonia, wineberry, creeping euonymus, autumn olive, Japanese holly, Japanese honeysuckle, and barberry. I partnered with the local community, including schools, Scouts BSA, Girl Scouts, Nature Specialist Club, and the Town of Vienna. I worked with over 50 volunteers and this project had over 200 volunteer hours. Additionally, I educated over 140 people on the importance of forestation and range management. 
Congratulations to the five Scouts from BSA Troop 55B and 55G (Great Falls, VA), who worked along with Civil Air Patrol Cadets from William P. Knight composite squadron (Herndon, VA), won the 2024 AMA UAS4STEM Drone Engineering Competition’s National Second Place Award at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh on July 24th. Among 17 teams competing, the joint team “55 Knights” is the only Virginia team, the only Scouts BSA Troop sponsored team at the competition, and the only winning CAP team for the 2024 season.
My name is Jason W, and I am an Eagle Scout in Troop 1094 in Darnestown, Maryland. I really enjoy being outside and I really enjoy watching and learning about wildlife. I look forward to becoming a wildlife biologist one day. Back in 2022, I learned about the 
For my 2nd Distinguished Conservation Service Award Project, I began a three-stage project to improve the fish and wildlife in my hometown of Poolesville, Maryland. The first stage was to hopefully attract a new breed of ducks to Poolesville. More specifically, wood ducks. I installed four nesting boxes at a quiet pond in Poolesville last fall. While I haven’t seen any wood ducks yet, this spring, I was able to witness hooded mergansers (cavity nesters) at this pond and watch tree swallows build nests in the boxes.
My third stage of the project was a lot of fun. I asked my community to promise to let me collect their Christmas trees after the holiday season. A fellow troop Scout and I drove around town and picked up 30 Christmas trees in January. We learned as we drove around that local farmers also collect Christmas trees to feed their goats. After we collected the trees, I recruited three of my ice hockey teammates to help me wire cinderblocks to these trees. We had to drill holes through the trees, insert the wire through the tree, and then to the cinderblock. Otherwise, the tree will float and not sink. At the end of January, a few scouts, along with my distinguished service conservation advisor, Ms. Sara Holtz, my project conservation advisor, Mr. King, and a few members of his work crew, helped me drop 30 Christmas trees into the deepest pond in Poolesville (Here is my 
