A team of ten elementary students from Cobb County has won the 2025-2026 FIRST LEGO League (FLL) state championship and will represent Georgia at the World Championship in Houston, Texas, this April. The group, named Brick Storm (FLL Team 71595), includes students from five different Cobb schools and competed against more than 4,000 students and 470 teams statewide.
The FLL Challenge is an international STEM program for children ages 4 to 16. Brick Storm was organized by the Penguin Brothers Robotics Club in East Cobb. Most members had participated in robotics summer camps or extracurricular activities at the club before joining the team.
Guided by coaches Ms. Yuan Zhuang and Ms. Jane Yang, the team met for three hours every Saturday and held additional meetings online as needed. Each member also contributed significant time to individual research and study. Their project work included researching archaeological sites, designing educational board games about archaeology, building robots to complete missions, and visiting museums.
Their efforts were recognized throughout the competition season. At Walton High School’s regional tournament on December 6, 2025, they received the Robot Best Performance Award. They then earned both the Robot Best Performance Award and Champion’s Award at Wheeler High School’s super-regional event on January 17, advancing them to the Georgia State Championship at Georgia Tech on February 7.
At Georgia Tech, Brick Storm won second place in robot performance and first place overall among sixty top teams statewide. This result secured their place as one of only two teams representing Georgia at the upcoming world event where they will compete with peers from over sixty countries.
“This achievement is truly exceptional,” said Jianfeng Jiang, parent of East Side Elementary student Boyan Jiang. “We are incredibly proud of these young students and want to celebrate their dedication, teamwork, and success!”
Reflecting on his experience this season, fifth grader Boyan Jiang said: “Being on the team changed my perspective on archaeology. I learned a lot about archaeology and the past. For my robot attachment, I changed it multiple times and added a rubber band to hold it together. I also designed the board for our board game, ‘ArchaeoQuest.’ Overall, this experience taught me that everything pays off in the end.”
Other team members shared similar sentiments:
Alexander Sun from Mt. Bethel Elementary School stated: “At first, I didn’t like FLL because my team and I had to do mountains and mountains of work… But soon… I noticed hard work paying off… we won first place overall in tournament A.”
Carrie Chen from Mt. Bethel Elementary said: “The thing that was hard was the amount of homework we had… When we went to our first competition, we realized how all our hard work and time paid off… My experience showed me that if you work hard and put effort and time in, you will succeed.”
Edward Tang from Mt. Bethel commented: “At the beginning, I did not like it… But when we won the first tournament, I started liking it… For our innovative project, I researched historical sites… I learned that anything is possible if you work hard.”
Eric Jiang from Mt. Bethel recalled: “I did not like the first few robotics practices… But after the first tournament, I began to like FLL… In state, we got 470 points, and we won!!! All the hard work paid off.”
Krithik Tadimarri from Rocky Mount Elementary shared: “I was inspired to join robotics because of my older sister… The first few days were challenging because there was so much to learn… In this journey,… I’m grateful to my family and teammates for supporting me every step of the way…”
Peter Alan Niculescu from Mt. Bethel noted: “This robotics season,… when you work with a team,… be there for them even when it is stressful or does not match your schedule…. thanks to this project,… interested in designing board games.”
Rishaan Ranjan from Mt. Bethel said: “At first,… skeptical…. We were ecstatic that we won … but we weren’t done yet…. The whole journey of our team brings new meaning to ‘Where there’s a will, there’s a way.'”
Other members include Ethan Zhou (Tritt Elementary) and Janie Luo (Sope Creek Elementary).
Mt. Bethel Elementary School plays a prominent role in supporting several Brick Storm members; it serves over 1,000 students as part of Cobb County School District with strong parental involvement through its PTA and Foundation (source). The school focuses on comprehensive engagement for student development (source) since its establishment in East Cobb County in 1977 (source).
Brick Storm will participate at Houston’s World Championship event between April 29-May 2.
