Bainbridge Middle School welcomed a full day of innovation, teamwork, and friendly competition as it hosted the FIRST LEGO League (FLL) regional qualifier for teams across Southwest Georgia on Saturday, December 13, 2025. Twelve middle‑school teams competed across four judged categories — Innovation Project, Robot Design, Core Values, and Robot Performance — showcasing creative solutions, thoughtful engineering, and strong collaboration during the UNEARTHED™ season.
Competing Teams in the Southwest Regional Qualifier Event:
Grady — 59176 MiniBots
Waycross Middle School — 71541 DawgBytes
Thomas County Middle School — 1740 Tech Relics
Colquitt — 73132 Time Diggers
Decatur — 66302 Techno Treasures
Grady — 59177 MakerBots
Thomas County Middle School — 66873 Funky Spelunkers
Colquitt — 69023 History Hunters
Thomas County Middle School — 1738 Fossible
Decatur — 66305 Sand Stormers
Thomas County Middle School — 1739 Archeo Avengers
Lee County — 34970 Elite Trojans
Competition Components:
Innovation Project: In the UNEARTHED™ season, teams identified real problems faced by archaeologists, proposed innovative solutions, created a prototype or drawing to explain the idea, and delivered a live presentation to judges demonstrating impact and feasibility.
Robot Design: Teams designed, built, and programmed robots with official LEGO Education systems to autonomously complete missions on the 4'×8' field. Judges evaluated the robot’s engineering, the team’s design process, mission strategy, and how well members explained their work.
Core Values: Built into every part of FIRST, Core Values emphasize teamwork, discovery, inclusion, innovation, impact, and fun. Judges observed teams’ collaboration in judged sessions and the PIT area to score this pillar.
Robot Performance: Teams ran five 2.5‑minute autonomous rounds on the mission table; the best score determined their Robot Performance ranking.
Event highlights:
PIT area: Families, community members, and other teams toured the PIT to learn about each team’s archaeology‑focused Innovation Project, inspect robot designs and strategies, collect SWAG, and watch teams fine‑tune code and attachments on a practice table.
Active Floor: Archaeology‑themed hands‑on activities kept participants and visitors engaged between matches.
Student Entrepreneurship: Bainbridge High School’s new student‑run enterprise “Bella and Buddy’s” sold specialty drinks and concessions as part of an entrepreneurship program led by Mr. Jacob Floyd — a practical learning opportunity for business skills.
K–12 STEM outreach: Projects from Decatur County’s WOZ ED program were on display in the lobby, highlighting elementary students’ work with Cubelets, sensors, motors, and early robotics designs that sense, think, and act. Several of those students plan to compete at the Regional GaSTC competition in Camilla, GA, in January.
FRC support: Bainbridge High School’s soon‑to‑launch FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) team played a central support role — building mission models, helping set up and tear down, mentoring, refereeing, and encouraging younger teams. Along with many other FRC members, Joel Aguayo and Khoi Nguyen commented, "Last year we competed as part of the first FLL teams in Decatur County and really learned a lot from our coach, Ms Hill and the experience. We wanted to give back to the team and encourage them to keep working hard."
Amy Zock, Director of Instructional and Innovative Technology for Decatur County Schools and a tournament organizer, praised the turnout and student work: “These kids have worked countless hours to show what they’ve learned and to challenge themselves. Watching them problem‑solve, support one another, and have fun is a great way to kick off the holiday season. I am so pleased with the turnout and projects this year — it’s just the start.”
Why FIRST matters:
FIRST programs build passion for STEM by making learning hands‑on and relevant while developing teamwork, problem‑solving, leadership, and confidence. FLL prepares younger students with the foundational skills needed for future FIRST Robotics Competition success and helps create a sustainable pipeline of student innovators through mentorship and “coopertition.”
Awards At the close of a spirited day, awards recognized excellence across categories and celebrated teams’ accomplishments:
Innovation Project Award: Team 66302 Techno Treasures (Decatur)
Robot Design Award: Team 1739 Archeo Avengers (Thomas County)
Core Values Award: Team 73132 History Hunters (Colquitt)
Robot Performance Award (tie): Team 69023 Time Diggers (Colquitt) and Team 71541 DawgBytes (Waycross)
Champions' Award: Team 66305 Sand Stormers (Decatur)
All teams left as winners for participating and demonstrating learning, creativity, and teamwork.
Next steps-- Georgia FIRST will announce which teams advance to the Super Regional Qualifier at Starbase Museum of Aviation in Warner Robins on January 24th. Teams will receive official notification this week.
The Bainbridge qualifier illustrated how STEM education, community support, and peer mentoring come together to inspire the next generation of problem‑solvers — and it set the stage for more FIRST excitement as Bainbridge High School launches its FRC season in January.
