I have eight years of FIRST LEGO League(www.firstlegoleague.org) under my belt, including experience with FIRST
Contact at Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama.The following highlights my FLL experience. I competed in FLL for
5 years - Volcanic Panic through No Limits. The final year of competition was 2004 No Limits. I was Team Captain
that year for Team CODE of Illinois. We earned the Illinois Director's Award, and represented Illinois at the World
Festival. At the World Festival, CODE earned the Gracious Professionalism Award, Third Place for Innovative Solutions,
and an Honorable Mention for the Innovative Robot Design Award. After No Limits, I mentored three teams. Two of
the three teams also earned their way as Illinois State Champions to the World Festival. I have Technical Judged at the
Illinois State Competition twice: Nano Quest and Power Puzzle. Throughout the years I have also been a Technical
Judge at several regional competitions around Illinois. For Climate Connections and Smart Move, I was the table
announcer at the Illinois State Competition. I called teams in from to pits, introduced them before the run, started
the match: "3,2,1, LEGO!", announced time milestones e.g. "1 minute remaining" , and made general administrative
announcements. Also, I was part of the think tank team in Manchester, New Hampshire that helped design the Body
Forward challenge for next year's FLL competition. I was on a panel composed of experts from the field of medicine,
FIRST employees, and FLL mentors and coaches. We were helping Scott Evans Another FLL connection I have is that
I beta test products for the LEGO NXT. I am what is known as a MINDSTORMS Community Partner: MCP. MCPs are not
LEGO employees, but they work closely with LEGO to improve the robotics platform. Some notable MCPs are Steve
Hassenplug, and Bryan Bonahoom. Many MCPs also go to various LEGO conventions year round. One of the conventions
I attend annually is Brickworld (www.brickworld.us). There are other conventions on the east and west coast in the
United States. Europe has many conventions. I also annually attend National Instruments Week in Texas, representing
LEGO Group. In addition, I was invited, and attended, MINDSTORMS tenth Anniversary workshop and celebration in
Denmark in November 2008. Another LEGO related activity I do is write for the Brickjournal (www.brickjournal.com).
The Brickjournal is a magazine published by Joe Meno, a very avid fan in the LEGO community. He publishes articles
about all sorts of things; one of which is LEGO MINDSTORMS robotics. I have published in the journal a few times,
and I continue to write articles for the journal. In summary, I have been involved with the FLL for seven years. I
attended the World Festival once as a competitor, twice as a Mentor, and twice representing LEGO Group.
* Note, I legally changed my name from Joseph/Jay Wieczorek to Jay Kinzie in 2007. Not all linked media has reflected the change.
LEGO Group:
FIRST LEGO League No Limits Challenge:
NI Week 2007:
Published BrickJournal Articles:
LEGO Projects:
LEGO Digital Designer Files: