Newport News Public Schools robotics teams excel at regional qualifier
Posted: December 10, 2025
Ten First Lego League robotics teams from Newport News Public Schools strongly competed in the Regional Qualifier on December 6 at Crittenden Middle School, making NNPS the largest participating school division with the most teams.
This year teams built their robots while competing in the Unearthed Challenge.
In Division 1, Newsome Park Elementary School received first place for Innovation Project and will serve as an alternate team for the state competition in January, while Yates Elementary School earned first place for Robot Design. General Stanford Elementary School earned the Core Values Award and McIntosh Elementary School received the Judges Award.
Crittenden's Custodial Crew was honored with the event's Volunteer Award.
All NNPS robotics teams will participate in the informal Unearthed Challenge competition during the annual NNPS/CNU STEM Community Day on May 30, 2026, at Christopher Newport University's Freeman Center.
"NNPS is one of the only school divisions in the area that provides coaching stipends and covers entry fees and field kit costs each year for all of our First Lego League teams, reflecting our commitment to expanding STEM education and opportunity," said NNPS STEM Instructional Supervisor Tami Byron.
"We want every teacher, school and student interested in robotics to have meaningful access to high quality experiences. We are so proud of our teams for their creative coding, thoughtful project work and strong engineering."
