After practicing for their moving-up ceremony, Gotham Avenue School sixth graders excitedly ran to the back field for their Sixth Grade Picnic on June 15.

The students sprawled out their blankets and towels to lounge on the grass with their peers, while a DJ played their favorite tunes. Foam lawn darts, Kan Jam, cornhole and Spikeball were set up for them to use at their leisure. They also enjoyed food catered in from Famous Dave’s.

Despite not competing in this year’s FIRST Lego League competition due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the robotics team at Gotham Avenue School decided to still participate in the challenge in their own school building.

This year’s challenge, “RePlay,” asked participating teams to find innovative ways to make people more active in their daily lives. After many meetings, research and discussions with robotics coach Kathryn Cartwright, students learned that one out of three children were not getting enough exercise due to the pandemic. The team came up with a solution to create socially distanced sensory walks in the hallways of Gotham Avenue. Each team member created engaging shapes and colors using their district-provided iPads. These designs were then printed out on the school’s Cricut machine and placed in the hallway by the in-person robotics team members.

“During this unprecedented year, the robotics team still came together to come up with a solution to a problem that has been directly affecting the students at their school,” Assistant Principal Robert Cavaliere said. “Now, if you walk around Gotham Avenue, you will see students from kindergarten to sixth grade jumping and getting in exercise whenever they are in the hallway!”