Rather than its usual basketball players, the Bossier Parish Community College gymnasium was filled with a different kind of competitor this past Saturday, March 2, 2013. The new competitors were teams of high school students who programmed LEGO® robots to participate in the Fourth Annual Mini-Urban Challenge Louisiana Regional Competition.

The Mini-Urban Challenge requires high school teams to design and operate a robotic car to autonomously navigate a LEGO® city. Teams earn seventy percent of their overall score as they exercise their science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) skills on the LEGO® city competition mat. The other thirty percent is earned during an oral presentation in which the teams must articulate their competition strategy and their use of STEM skills.

Seventeen high school teams from Avoyelles, Bossier, Caddo, Lincoln, Natchitoches, and Webster Parishes and Harrison County, Texas, competed over the course of twelve hours. Best Oral Presentation was awarded to Parkway High School, and Best In Show was earned by North Caddo Magnet High School. Parkway High School won first place in the overall competition while Cedar Creek School Green Team came in second place and Avoyelles Public Charter School came in third. Trophies were awarded to the top three teams. Additionally, Parkway High School earned $500.00 and Cedar Creek School Green Team earned $350.00 in technology awards from the Cyber Innovation Center.

"This competition allows students to develop and demonstrate STEM and critical thinking skills that will benefit them throughout high school, college, and beyond. We greatly appreciate all the teams' hard work and our partners' continued support," said G.B. Cazes, Vice President of the Cyber Innovation Center.

The Mini-Urban Challenge is nationally sponsored by The Doolittle Institute, the United States Air Force Research Laboratory Munitions Directorate, John Deere, and LEGO® Education Company. It is sponsored locally by the Cyber Innovation Center's National Integrated Cyber Education Research Center (NICERC). The Mini-Urban Challenge Louisiana Regional Competition in Bossier City is one of five regional competitions that precede the national competition. Other regional sites are Valparaiso, Florida; Torrance, California; Washington, DC; and Dayton, Ohio. First and second place winners of each regional competition are invited to compete in the 2013 National Competition at the National Museum of American History on June 1, 2013, in Washington, DC. Parkway High School and Cedar Creek School Green Team will represent our region.

"Bossier City is proud to serve as a host site for the Mini-Urban Challenge and to provide students in our region with this wonderful learning opportunity. I applaud all of the participating teams and wish the best for the teams that will represent our region at the national competition," stated Mayor Lorenz Walker.

To view pictures from the Fourth Annual Mini-Urban Challenge Louisiana Regional Competition, please visit http://www.nicerc.org/mini-urban-challenge/.