Last Wednesday evening, coaches and student leaders of the LigerBots high-school robotics team held an information session for a standing-room-only crowd of Newton parents (and kids) who want to start (or join) a FIRST Lego League (FLL) robotics team.  FLL teams, consisting of 2 to 10 students in Grades 4-8, supported by 2 adult coaches, compete in the fall season by a) building and programming a LEGO robot to complete assigned missions and b) researching and presenting results for a project based on the FLL theme for the year.  This year’s theme is Trash Trek.  Most teams fill up quickly, so parents looking for teams for their children should consider coaching.  Technical expertise is not required, and there is considerable help available from LigerBots high-school students (who are eager to cultivate interest in FIRST among younger students) and from other FLL coaches, many of whom are in an online discussion group.  If you’d like to learn more about coaching an FLL team, or if you’d like to connect with other FLL teams in Newton, visit ligerbots.org/fll.php or email fll@ligerbots.com or fll@newtonstem.org.