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A group of Central Maui elementary school girls with ties that go back to kindergarten banded together to form a team that took first place in the Hawaii FIRST LEGO League robotics competition at Baldwin High School in October and qualified for the Hawaii Regional Championship on Oahu in January.

The Sapphires Friendship Club's robotics team, which named themselves the Super Shiny Six, was one of five Maui teams to qualify for the Oahu regional at the Maui event. A total of 13 teams from Maui schools and 4-H clubs as well as independent groups competed in the event.

The Super Shiny Six team consisted of Breanne Mukai, Hana Murphy, Kasey Pacheco, Kylie Taketa, Aubrey Unemori and Camie Yokote. The girls attend different elementary schools - Wailuku, Waihee and Pomaikai - but have known one another since kindergarten when they were in 4-H together.

The other four qualifying teams and their members follow:

* Second - Maui Bunnies 4-H: Nicole Davis, Britney Delima, Kristen Hasegawa, Samantha Hill, Tiffany Keau, Nicole Nagamine, Jade Vierra and Erica Wells.

* Third - Valley Isle Professional Engineers in Robotics (V.I.P.E.R.): Evan Grimes, Justin Gonzaga and Jonathan You.

* Fourth - Maui Girls 4-H: Kylie Davis, Brynn Kubo, Dayna McGinnis, Aimee Nathan, Kami Shimabuku, Jena Suzuki, Layce Yamauchi and Katie Yoshioka.

* Fifth - Seabury Hall Spartanbots: Nicholas Colon, Adam Ferrier, Max Hurd, Ryan Koss, Fletcher Prouty, Wolfgang Sargent, Takayoshi Tsutsui and Carter Umetsu.

Other awards were handed out at the competition: Best Teamwork - V.I.P.E.R.; Project - Sapphires Club, Super Shiny Six; Robot Design - Seabury Hall Spartanbots; Robot Performance - Seabury Hall Spartanbots.

The other teams competing were Maui 4-H, Technology Masters Blue; Maui 4-H, Technology Masters Red; Iao School Robotics, Havoc; Kamehameha Schools Maui After School Program, Warriors 4768; Lahaina Intermediate School, LIS FIRST Robotics; Emmanuel Lutheran School, ELS Robotics; Maui Waena Intermediate School and Kihei Elementary School.

The goal of the FIRST LEGO League, which is geared for youths ages 9 to 14, is to get youngsters excited about science and technology, the FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Web site said. The competition engages the youths in research, problem solving and engineering while encouraging friendly sportsmanship and community involvement.

FLL makes the rules and provides the competition materials. More than 25,000 youths from across the nation and another 5,000 in other countries are involved in the FLL.

Working in teams of no more than 10 with the help of at least one adult mentor, the competitors have 10 weeks to build an autonomous robot that will in two minutes and 30 seconds complete pre-designed missions; analyze, research and invent a solution for a given assignment; and create a presentation about their solution to perform in front of a panel of judges, the Web site said.

This year's challenge or theme was "Climate Connections," and the teams in the Maui event made presentations on wind turbines, coral and Kahoolawe rain. Puppet shows and skits were among the methods used to communicate their ideas to the judges.

The Maui qualifying event was hosted and coordinated by Baldwin Robotics in collaboration with Maui Economic Development Board's Women in Technology. Judging was done by members of the technology community on Maui and the referee ranks included Baldwin teachers and members of the Maui tech community. Maui High's Project Environmental And Spatial Technology program and robotics program also assisted in the event.