COLLEGE PARK--February 11, 2011--As a result of their hard work and dedication, seven members of Girl Scout Troop #2701 won the Rookie All Star Award at the First Lego League Qualifier Event on January 29, 2011. The team completed a research project on pre-diabetes and designed a robot that performed four health-related missions.

The scouts are students at Holy Trinity Episcopal Day School and St. Mathias Catholic School and call themselves the “Pre-Teen Dreamers.” Maraya Burks, Camryn Edwards, Taylor Fields, Kailyn Geter, Camryn Honesty, Simone St. Paul and Alexandra Turner made up the only all-girl team among 23 others in the competition.  

Coaches: Leslie Fields, Kelly Burks. Mentor: Brandon Cooper.

The team received facilities, computer and technical support from Optimal Solutions Group, LLC.

“Robotics has been a new adventure for us and we have enjoyed the roller coaster ride.  Dare to Dream!  We are Pre-Teen Dreamers.”

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Optimal Solutions Group, LLC

Founded in 2000, Optimal Solutions Group, LLC, is a nonpartisan public policy research and technical assistance firm that differentiates itself by its quantitative expertise and innovative approaches in order to provide rigorous, data-driven research and technical assistance to government agencies, corporations, nonprofit organizations, and philanthropic foundations. Located at the University of Maryland’s M Square Research Park in College Park, Optimal is a leader in driving real-time public policy research. Optimal has 60+ employees including multidisciplinary researchers that have backgrounds in economics, health policy, statistics, psychology, sociology, public policy, communications, education, urban planning, and business. Optimal has four research centers—Health; Education; Housing; Workforce Development and Social Policy.