Greenville LEGO League team back in the spotlight

Greenville LEGO League team back in the spotlight

Local students are making a difference through engineering

Argent Agents, a Greenville FIRST LEGO League team, is back to the world championship for the second year in a row. “They won the state championship again this year,” Chris Arzt, the team’s coach and a parent of two of the competitors, said. “Last year when they won, they weren’t at all expecting it. After they went to the World Championship last year, they got home and said, ‘we’re going to do it again next year.’ So, they committed to working really hard. I was very impressed with them. There’s an initial qualifier tournament, there’s a regional tournament, and then if you do well enough in that, you go to the state championships, and they did all that. And then they won the state championship.”

Next up, the team competes in the FIRST LEGO League Challenge World Championships in Houston, Texas, starting April 16. The competition includes the top 110 teams – out of about 30,000 – from around the world. It teaches young people how to think like engineers and solve problems as a team.

Argent Agents includes six Greenville students, five of whom are current students at CTC/Sterling School and one who graduated from the program last year: Lily Arzt, Nicky Arzt, Benjamin Frick, Jackson Champion-Wescott, Jackson Haughton, and Henry Quackenbush.

Innovation Project to Benefit Parkinson’s Patients

As part of the challenge this year, the team created an innovation project that is designed to make it easier for people with Parkinson’s Disease or essential tremors to paint. They developed three tools that help to counteract tremors and make it easier for people to use a paintbrush, pencil, or marker. And they are using their success to help raise money for the American Parkinson Disease Association.

Arzt said the community has rallied around to help the team. Among their supporters, Arzt credits Brent Click, owner of Hyper Formance machine shop, with going out of his way to be a resource for the students. “He has been really wonderful in letting them come over and helping them deal with stuff,” Arzt said. “They couldn’t have built a lot of this without access to him and his help and his tools.”

Supporting a Good Cause

To support the team’s fundraiser for the American Parkinson Disease Association (APDA), visit apdaparkinson.donordrive.com/campaign/argent. To find out more about joining FIRST LEGO League and to follow the team’s success, visit firstsouthcarolina.org.

Author: HERE Greenville

HERE Greenville

Recent Posts

Greenville-Anderson Real Estate Market Recognized as Top Hot Spot for 2025

News Summary The Greenville-Anderson real estate market has garnered national attention, being named one of…

1 hour ago

Weekend Thrills Await in Upstate South Carolina

News Summary Upstate South Carolina is set for an action-packed weekend filled with concerts, sports,…

1 hour ago

Art Exhibit ‘Nature Deconstructed’ Opens in Greenville

News Summary Spoonbill Gallery in Greenville is set to unveil a new exhibit titled 'Nature…

1 hour ago

Supreme Court to Hear Case on South Carolina’s Medicaid Funding Cuts to Planned Parenthood

Supreme Court to Review South Carolina's Medicaid Funding for Planned Parenthood Washington – The Supreme…

14 hours ago

Appalachian State Aims to Overcome Road Struggles Against Dominant Charleston Cougars

Charleston, South Carolina – A Clash of College Basketball Teams In a thrilling college basketball…

16 hours ago