HICKSVILLE, NY (TIP): Hicksville Middle School’s Meteorites robotics created last year has made tremendous progress, reaching the finals in the FIRST LEGO Robotics Competition.

The South Asian dominated team comprises: Somya Mehta, Sejal Gupta, Rishika Thayavally, Viveka Jain, Victor Lobo, Dylan Gaznabbi, Rohan Manjrekar, Esha Singh, Aniket Sonika and Jaskaran Kohli. Catherine Temps is their coach, and their mentor is Indian American Shiv Chopra, President of Hicksville High School’s robotics program. Lauren Colwell and Michael Johnson are also mentors.

The Meteorites will meet JFK middle school’s Robotic Raccoons and other teams in the finals to be held on February 28 at Longwood High School, in Suffolk County, Long Island.

This year’s tournament theme being Trash Trek, the Hicksville Meteorites team tried to solve the problem of microbeads, little plastic balls that threaten the environment. Seeking help from professors and politicians, they were able to learn more about the issue and find solutions. And of course, the team was regularly meeting for the past several months to build and program the LEGO robot to perform tasks relating to trash as required by the competition.