Two Harbors had double the representation at this year’s Minnesota FIRST LEGO League State Tournament on February 15. The Robo Dweebs, backed by Two Harbors Schools and Community Ed, made their sixth state appearance after winning the Champions Award at the regional competition in Hermantown. The Pizza Bots, a three‑student homeschool team sponsored and coached by Marita Klevgaard of Northshore Pizza, joined them on the state stage.
I caught up with Jenna Udenberg, coach of the Robo Dweebs, to get an inside look at the team’s experience at state and what FIRST LEGO League means for students in a small North Shore community.
Udenberg founded Robo Dweebs 13 years ago after Gary Sherburne, a retired engineer living in Two Harbors, had been urging FIRST Robotic Competition coaches and math and science teachers to start a LEGO robotics program for the younger students. When Udenberg volunteered, she was a music teacher, which was a detail that caught Sherburne off guard.
“He comes walking to my classroom at Two Harbors High School and said, ‘Wait a minute. I don’t see any science beakers. I don’t see any math books. I see xylophones and recorders. How in the world are you interested in robotics and engineering and all the things?’” Udenberg recalled. “I said, ‘Well, the cool thing about music is we are the cog of all the things.’”
Sherburne mentored Udenberg for the first six or seven years before officially co‑coaching. After he retired and moved to the Twin Cities, former student and Robo Dweeb Zach Blaisdell stepped in and now coaches virtually.
“He’s been coaching with me for five years now,” said Udenberg. “When a Robo Dweeb will drive him a little crazy, then I always peer around the corner of the TV… ‘So Zach, how’s it feel being Gary? You’re just getting the gray hairs that you gave Gary and I.’”
Participation has ebbed and flowed over the years, but interest has never been the issue. The biggest challenge is finding enough adults to coach.
“There’s always more kids and families that are interested than we have adults to create teams for,” Udenberg said. “We’re always looking for adults to come and be part of the life.”
This year’s Robo Dweebs fielded a four‑student team spanning grades 5 through 9, a slightly wider range than usual. One spot came together in an unexpected way.
“This year we had a fifth grader that had been to all of our outreaches for the last several years, just pining away, waiting,” said Udenberg. “We have a small team this year. Let’s roll the dice and have a fifth grader on the team.”
FIRST LEGO League kicks off each year with an August launch, when teams finally open the sealed kit that arrives earlier in the summer. Udenberg explained that registration happens in spring or early summer, and the season officially begins when FIRST releases the annual challenge in the first week of August. Teams receive what Udenberg calls “a magical box” that contains anywhere from 2 to 5,000 Legos and a rolled-up mat, along with the year’s theme and the requirements for their innovative project.
Once the challenge is revealed, teams dive into both the engineering and research sides of the program. Students must “come up with a real world problem and develop a real world solution,” often working with experts to build a prototype or 3D model. At the same time, they assemble the 15 or more mission models included in the kit and design an autonomous LEGO robot capable of completing as many missions as possible in a two‑and‑a‑half‑minute run.
Competition judges far more than robot performance. Teams present their robot design, explain their mission strategy, and share what they learned along the way.
FIRST LEGO League emphasizes six core values — discovery, innovation, impact, inclusion, teamwork, and fun — and teams are judged on how well they live them out. Udenberg said the Robo Dweebs usually pick “fun” as their favorite value, but this year’s group surprised her by choosing “impact” instead.
They are also judged on the culture of “coopertition,” which Udenberg described as competing while still helping other teams succeed.
“You want each team to do their very best,” she said, noting that her students have even handed over their own charged battery so an opponent could compete.
Throughout the year, the Robo Dweebs are supported by the Age to Age program, a Community Ed and Northland Foundation partnership that pairs older adults with youth teams. After Gary Sherburne helped establish that model in the early years, the role was carried on by Bob Lukinen, who mentored the team for several seasons.
Bob and his wife Barb still return for events and scrimmages, part of what Udenberg describes as the team’s longstanding commitment to learning from “the generations before us” and keeping the program intergenerational at its core.
“Robo Dweebs have always had a connection to our older population, and really trying to learn from our elders. Also, just being more intergenerational and not always reaching down, but also reaching up to the generations before us,” said Udenberg.
The team’s innovative project pushed them far beyond the classroom this season. Udenberg said the students consulted with ten different experts, an unprecedented number for the Robo Dweebs. This pool included UMD professors, archaeologists, zookeepers, and multiple audio engineers.
FIRST encourages teams to seek outside expertise and integrate that feedback into both their project and robot design, and this year’s group took that to heart, even developing a working prototype for the state competition.
The Robo Dweebs had a great time at the state competition at Burnsville High School and were the talk of the event with their LED hats, made possible with the help of a college mentor.
“Every time we got to the board, they got more points on the board,” said Udenberg. “So, we take that as a win. Unfortunately, we didn’t get any callbacks or awards, but the camaraderie and the growth were quite phenomenal. It’s more important what we learn than what we win.”
And there’s a lot the kids learn as part of being in a robotics club.
“Everybody thinks it’s you just go play with LEGOs,” said Udenberg. “There’s a lot more than that. The amount of lifelong learning and just soft life skills that they learn, being a part of a robotics team, especially FLL, is huge.”
Udenberg went on to name an impressive list of skills: presentation, communication, professionalism, commitment, follow‑through, project management, prioritizing, technology, debugging, and problem‑solving. She also added “grit” and “what it means to be a team.”
For kids interested in joining FIRST LEGO League, Udenberg suggests reaching out early.
“Reaching out sooner than later is always super important,” she said. “Once we get through spring or early summer, we’ve already kind of set our team for the year.”
For adults interested in volunteering, the coach emphasized that no experience is necessary and the time commitment can be flexible.
“The biggest thing is that they have to know absolutely nothing about coding,” Udenberg said. “You have a heart for kids and you’re willing to learn with them, that’s all you need.”
Additional information can be found on the Robo Dweebs Facebook page and the Community Education website. Udenberg can also be reached at judenberg@isd381. Org.
The Pizza Bots ended up having some last‑minute trouble with their robot down at state, losing a piece of equipment during practice. Though the part was found and adjustments were made, the team was unable to advance. However, the disappointment didn’t put too much of a damper on the experience. According to Northshore Pizza Café’s Facebook page, “The boys had a blast competing at this level.”
