BARRINGTON — In only their second year with a competitive team, St. Luke’s School in Barrington once again walked away from the state championship held at Roger Williams University with more hardware this year.
The team this year was comprised of four dedicated and hard-working 7th grade students. The team has been working since the first week of school in August and their hard work paid off. At the Regional qualifier last month, they not only qualified for the state finals but more importantly they were awarded First Prize in Core Values.
“I was almost more excited about placing first in the Core Values competition than in qualifying for the state finals,” commented co-coach and grade 6 teacher Pauline Noury. “We excelled in all 6 Core Values in order to win. They include: Inclusion, Impact, Innovation, Discovery, Teamwork and Fun. These are the same values and principles that drive our school every day, so we are extremely proud of this recognition.”
The team returned to Roger Williams University hoping to build on their first-year success and they did just that. With consistent scores in each of the three rounds, their total score eclipsed last year’s total and propelled them to a 13th place finish out of 36 teams.
“If it weren’t for a couple of unexpected mishaps, they could have eclipsed 300 points on two of their three competitive rounds,” said co-coach Peter Ferlazzo.
By far, the highlight of the year came when the team was awarded First Prize in the Teamwork portion of the all-important Core Values competition.
As with most team and extra-curricular activities at St. Luke’s School (and a component of the Robotics competition) the students have incorporated a service element to their efforts. The team will soon have their second meeting with the Town of Barrington to review their recommendations relative to trying to make the public playground behind the Town Hall more handicap accessible.
