The Brick Titans wearing their superheroes and scientist costume after they present their Lego model to the judges.
(1st row, from left): Ms. Joyce Calica, Institutional Robotics Coordinator, and Mr. Are Jay John Casicas, Robotics Elite Team Coach
(2nd row, from left): Carlo Sebastian Ramos, Thoren Garcia, Markus Timothy Belleza, Brent Isekiel Escalona, Raphael Ramiel Dollente, Jose Hugo Rafael Tan
The Brick Titans wearing their Barong Tagalog with Salakot waves the Philippine flag proudly upon receiving their Coding Award together.
From left: Mr. Are Jay John Casicas, Robotics Elite Team Coach, Raphael Ramiel Dollente, Jose Hugo Rafael Tan, Brent Izekiel Escalona, Carlo Sebastian Ramos, Markus Timothy Belleza, Thoren Garcia, and Ms. Joyce Calica, Institutional Robotics Coordinator
The Brick Titans wearing their Maglalatik costumes as they dance the Maglalatik during the First Lego League World Festival.
From left: Markus Timothy Belleza, Carlo Sebastian Ramos, Thoren Garcia, Raphael Ramiel Dollente, Brent Izekiel Escalona, and Jose Hugo Rafael Tan
The Zobel Honorary (ZH) Foundation Team wearing their Baro’t Saya during the awarding Ceremony.
From left to right – Mr. Are Jay Casicas, Robotics Elite Team Coach, Rafael Antonio Pulido, Jacob Isaac Ruiz, Christian Andrei Cleofe, Dominic Leo Ramos, Amanda Reign Ramos, Franc Andre Dimatatac, Robert Zachary Santos, Allen Conner Hizon, Matteo Eduardo Valdez, Ms. Joyce Calica, Institutional Robotics Coordinator
The ZH Foundation Team after the awarding Ceremony.
From left to right – Ms Joyce Calica, Institutional Robotics Coordinator, Rafael Antonio Pulido, Dominic Leo Ramos, Franc Dimatatac, Amanda Reign Ramos, Allen Hizon,Matteo Eduardo Valdez, Robert Zachary Santos, Jacob Isaac Ruiz, Christian Andrei Dimatatac, and Mr. Are Jay Casicas, Robotics Elite Team Coach.
The ZH Foundation Team with their coaches and parents as spectators during the official robot mission game.
The DLSZ Robotics Elite Team in the grade school who called themselves “The Brick Titans,” has won the Coding award in the FIRST LEGO League Explore World Festival held from April 19-22, 2023 in George R. Brown Convention Center, Houston, Texas, USA.
Meanwhile, the DLSZ Robotics Elite Team in the high school who called themselves the “Zobel Honorary (ZH) Foundation Team,” got 18th place in the Robot Game Category (out of 108 teams and 1080 participants worldwide) and were finalists in the following: Breakthrough Award, Rising All-Star Award, and Motivate Award.
The Brick Titans
The DLSZ Grade School students, ages 6-9 years old, joined the Explore Category and competed with 60 teams and 360 participants. They won the FLL national competition last February 10-11, 2023, and were the representatives of the Philippines.
The DLSZ Robotics Elite Team (Grade School) is composed of the following:
- Markus Timothy Belleza (DLSZ 2032)
- Raphael Ramiel Dollente (DLSZ 2033)
- Brent Izekiel Escalona (DLSZ 2033)
- Thoren Garcia (DLSZ 2033)
- Carlo Sebastian Ramos (DLSZ 2031)
- Jose Hugo Rafael Tan (DLSZ 2032)
In line with the focus of the FLL this year on the global need for sustainable energy, the Philippine contingent’s model was a renewable energy-powered community theme park, wherein wind turbines, solar panels, biomass facility, piezoelectric ceramics, and rainwater collector (for hydro energy) serve as sources of energy. They used LEGO pieces with moving parts, developing a programming/coding that allowed such parts as turbines and ferries wheel in their model to function as they do in real theme parks.
“For now, we explain to our friends and other people about our theme park. And maybe later on, we can inform the government to try to build it because we’re helping our country,” shares Thoren Garcia (DLSZ 2033) in his interview with ABS-CBN News.
Ms. Joyce Calica, Institutional Robotics Coordinator shared with ABS-CBN that this experience gave the students the ability to provide solutions to real-world problems through a guided global robotics program.
“They were able to develop being patient with one another. They learned how to cooperate with one another. They knew that if they will be able to know the different brick parts, and how to build those Legos, their creativity is also developed.”
The Zobel Honorary (ZH) Foundation Team
The Junior High School and Senior High School joined the Challenge category for students ages 10-16 years old. They presented their official entry- a prototype of their project called, ALENNE (Alternative Energy Nexus) which is designed to generate, store, and distribute energy made out of trash.
The DLSZ Robotics Elite Team (Junior High School and Senior High School) are:
- Christian Andrei A. Cleofe (DLSZ 2025)
- Franc Andre Dimatatac (DLSZ 2026)
- Allen Conner Cole Hizon (DLSZ 2024)
- Rafael Antonio H. Pulido (DLSZ 2025)
- Amanda Reign B. Ramos (DLSZ 2028)
- Dominic Leo B. Ramos (DLSZ 2024)
- Jacob Isaac F. Ruiz (DLSZ 2025)
- Robert Zachary Santos (DLSZ 2024)
- Eduardo Matteo Valdez (DLSZ 2027)
The FIRST® LEGO® League introduces science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) to children ages 4-16* through fun, exciting hands-on learning. Participants gain real-world problem-solving experience through a guided, global robotics program, helping today’s students and teachers build a better future together. The FIRST® LEGO® League has three divisions: a) FLL Discover for ages 4-6, b) FLL Explore for ages 6-10, and c) FLL Challenge for ages 9-16.
In FLL Explore, participants focus on “the fundamentals of engineering as they explore real-world problems, learn to design, and code, and create unique solutions made with LEGO bricks and powered by LEGO® Education SPIKE Essential. Meanwhile, in FLL Challenge, participants focus on friendly competition and “engage in research, problem-solving, coding, and engineering- building and programming a LEGO robot that navigates the missions of a robot game.”
Sources: FIRST Lego League, ABS CBN News, That’s a wrap on First Champ
Congratulations to the students and their coaches, Mr. Are Jay Casicas and Ms. Joyce Calica!