School Lego team wins global award in South Korea
BBCA group of teenagers have won an international award while representing the UK at a Lego robotics competition.
Malachi, Owen, Owen, James and Harry - Year 10 students at Endon High School in Staffordshire - won the First Lego League UK national final in April in order to secure a place in the global final in South Korea.
The team, called End-Tech, had to raise £25,000 in order to attend the competition.
They designed and built their own Lego robot, and went on to win the International Excellence in Engineering Award.
"As a group, to all of us it means a lot," Owen said, flying across the world to compete in this competition.
"To come back with any award would be impressive, but this award is one that we really wanted."
The group's other Owen said it was "pretty intense" competing against some of the best teams in the world, and was "a lot of pressure".
The pupils used the Python programming language, and travelled to the city of Jeonju-si from 3 to 5 July, with 44 teams from 33 countries taking part.
On the event's website, organisers described it as a celebration of science and imagination that "brings teams together in the spirit of encouragement and collaboration".
Teacher Shaun Mitchell said he had been aiming to win an award at the national round of the competition for about a decade.
"The fact that I've got to enjoy doing this with them and watching them, particularly on the international stage, being around their people, the people from around the world that are just like these [children] and engaging and interacting... it was just, as a teacher, an absolute pleasure to see," he said.
Malachi added the competition was "all go, no slow" and very intense on the middle of the three days they spent in South Korea.
"It didn't seem that serious when we started," Harry said. "But it sort of evolved into this big thing that's absolutely changed our lives."
James told BBC Radio Stoke it had been a "great" experience getting to travel to South Korea.
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