Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP Candyd Watkins, left, with fellow Tiger Builders teammates Abel Cackett, right, and Ryan Viera, makes a quick adjustment to their Lego model, City of the Future, as Hollis Brookline High School First Robotics team member Ari Frankel, far right, reviews the project at Sunday's Junior Lego League expo.

HOLLIS – Billed as the “oldest and longest-running event of its kind worldwide,” Sunday’s 2019 version of the FIRST Lego League Jr. Expo drew roughly 300 kids on 56 teams to Hollis Brookline High School.

Hosted by the HBHS Team 1073 – known as The Force Team – the expo filled the school gym with children ages 6-10 from as close as Nashua and Amherst and as far as Durham and the Concord area, all of whom have at least one thing in common: An interest in pursuing opportunities in science, technology, engineering and math, the so-called STEM subjects.

“The goal is to get them to learn presentation, to develop confidence,” said Ken St. Hilaire, who got involved with FIRST Robotics when his daughter was at Hollis Brookline High School and is now the organization’s senior mentor for New Hampshire.

He referred to Sunday’s participants, the youngest of the four age levels under the organization’s umbrella.

After FIRST Lego League Jr. comes FIRST Lego League, then FIRST Tech Challenge, then FIRST Robotics Competition.

The Force Team – Hollis Brookline High School’s FIRST Robotics Competition team – has hosted the FIRST Lego League Jr. expo since its inception, according to St. Hilaire.

Members of the high school team not only host the expo, they also volunteer as “reviewers,” who interview members of the participating teams regarding their respective projects, all of which are created with Legos.

One project, for instance, required the Tiger Builders, the team from Clark-Wilkins Elementary School in Amherst, to build “the City of the Future,” St. Hilaire said.

A stipulation was that the “city” had to be accessible to everyone, which required the team to brainstorm ideas to make the city barrier free.

The Force Team, meanwhile, has for several years made its mark at the national level, most recently in May by finishing third in the world overall at the World FIRST Robotics competition in Detroit.

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.

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