In November, Summit Lakes Middle School hosted a robotics tournament for forty teams. Team Aluminum Green, comprised of six SLMS students, won the Champion’s Award. Team Aluminum Green’s winning members include Anthony Klote, Nathan Treccariche, Caden Murphy, Hannah Jones, Jayden Russell and Adam Bruns.

The Champion’s Award celebrates how the winners “inspire others about the accessibility and excitement of science, technology and engineering while demonstrating respect, encouragement and continued gracious professionalism,” according to the tournament’s organization, FIRST LEGO League.

Team Aluminum Green won the tournament’s top award for their project, which is a multisensory alarm clock designed to wake astronauts with memories of home. The software uses a recorded message of a loved one to wake up the astronaut, and it also uses an associated scent to strengthen emotion and memory.

The students have shared their project with a chief executive at NASA’s Human Research Program and Col. Guy Gardner, a former astronaut who piloted multiple space missions.

Team Aluminum Green, sponsored by Lee’s Summit West’s Team Titanium, will attend regionals in January along with nine other teams with students from SLMS, Greenwood Elementary and Trailridge Elementary.