Acworth Elementary School hosted its second Lego building competition on Friday, November 15, the first one held by AES in seven years. Cobb Electric Membership Corporation (EMC) Power sponsored the event, buying Legos for each contestant to utilize during the competition. Their generous donations enabled children from all around the county to explore the creative world of Lego building, where children’s imaginations can come to life before their eyes. 

The competition filled the Acworth Elementary cafeteria with enthusiastic zeal as students tenaciously worked to perfect their creations. The contest invited Lego enthusiasts from second through twelfth grade to express their innovative and critical thinking skills to precisely put together Lego building kits.

“This competition really brought students from all over the county together in a special way,” AES secretary Jean Barry said.

At the beginning of the competition, each contestant received a Lego building kit enclosed in a pizza box, along with a laminated piece of paper depicting an enlarged number to alert judges when they finished building. Officials assigned each age group a unique Lego set to construct. Starting with the group of second graders, contestants were tasked with building simple trains. As contestants age increased, so did the perplexity of their kits.

Judges broke down the competition by grade level, ranging from grades 2 to 1. At the end of the night, three children from each group became awarded prizes for their expertise in Lego building. The first place prize winner in each grade received a $75 gift card while second place winners earned $50 gift cards, and third place winners won $25 gift cards. In order to receive one of these esteemed prizes, students competed to produce the most elite Lego creations in their age groups. Judges graded the contenders by speed and accuracy.

The competition consisted of two rounds: the first round consisted of students aged 7-18 who paid their $10 registration fee. Unfortunately, not everyone went home a winner, as the majority of the contestants did not meet the requirements to move on to the second round. Only the top six builders in each grade level proceeded to round two. The second round imposed new rigors and implemented more strenuous lego sets. Students were given  18 minutes to complete their creations and ceased to waste even a minute. After what felt like seconds to contestants and years to spectators, the timer rang and the building fell into a sudden hindrance. Judges collected each Lego set, carefully assessed the final product, and awarded the top builders. Applause echoed throughout the cafeteria as students acknowledged their beloved classmates for their outstanding Lego building skills.  

Friday’s Lego building contest constituted the perfect way to unite Cobb County’s Lego enthusiasts by providing students with hands-on learning experiences and forcing them to use cognitive thinking skills, enhance their spatial skills, and develop their motor skills. 

“Students used their hands and their minds, corresponding the two to complete rigorous Lego building sets. In the high school group, the kids were just building, it took little thought process and was almost their second nature,” AES 4th grade teacher Amy Moss said.

AES prides themselves on their STEM program, which permits them to host numerous events such as the contest on Friday, to foster student interest in science and mathematics-related fields. The Lego building competition reveals the perfect ways to inspire children to explore STEM career pathways starting at a young age.  Students walked into the AES doors with dreams of winning a Lego building contest. However, merely three hours later these same students walked out with dreams of becoming architects and engineers.