Desert View Elementary School’s Wayfinders robotics team, under the guidance of coaches Kevin and Lauren Locker, found success in competition and in life as they participated in their rookie year this school year (submitted photo).
Kevin and Lauren Locker were looking for a volunteer opportunity where they could lend their skills and their time. Sunnyslope’s Desert View Elementary School had eager learners who needed an opportunity to expand their horizons. When they came together last fall, all of the pieces clicked – literally.
“We became acquainted with the school through our church, Scottsdale Bible Church,” Kevin said. “They have adopted a couple of schools in the area, to help out wherever they can. One of the Desert View staff members came to our church campus and I asked, offhand, if they were interested in doing any kind of STEM after school program. It was something that I had done previously. He was really excited about it – they had never done anything like that at their school.”
Kevin is a recently retired semiconductor engineer. After spending 20 years at Honeywell Aviation, another 10 years designing semiconductors elsewhere, then the last 12 years at Intel working as a chip architect – he had a lot of knowledge to pass on, and a willingness to give back to the community. As did his wife, Lauren, who picks up the story.
To gauge the student interest in creating a FIRST LEGO League team, the couple attended the parent-teacher open house at Desert View prior to the beginning of the 2026-27 school year.
“We set up a display at the open house and talked to parents,” Lauren recalled. “And, of course, whenever you have LEGOs out, students are just drawn like bees to honey.”
Next, they sponsored two days of LEGO game day events and invited interested fourth, fifth and sixth graders. Through Kevin’s contacts at Arizona State University, they created LEGO pits, where students could build anything they wanted. Alongside that were robotics activities that would be used in the League.
“So, they got to dip their toes in the water and see what it would be like to be part of a team,” Lauren said. Then, working with the school principal, John Mospan, and the after-school coordinator, they put together a team of 10 students, dubbed the Wayfinders.
The League competition has four aspects. First, there is the actual Robot Game – a timed event where the students take their designed robot and attachments and place it on a 4-foot by 8-foot game map where it autonomously interacts with a set of mission models.
“They do the programming, they do the designing of the attachments, they do the building; they’re involved in every step of that process,” Kevin said.
The team also is assessed on the robot design – how innovative it is; the way that the students solve the mission – not just the game score, but the process behind the solution; and the innovation project – where the kids have to solve a problem that aligns with a theme. This year, it was archaeology. With the Lockers leading and support and mentorship from members of the Brophy Robotics team, the students got to work.
Fast forward to the second week in December, when the Wayfinders attended the regional competition and earned second place out of 28 teams. This put them on a path to attend the state championship in January, where they earned fourth place overall among 66 teams.
In the Robot Game event, the rookie Wayfinders scored an impressive 420 points – an increase of 70 points from their regional competition score and the third-highest total recorded at the championship.
Another big part of the League is demonstrating its six core values, said Lauren: Discovery, Innovation, Impact, Inclusion, Teamwork and Fun.
“We really saw them grow in these areas – they really caught on to that. It was one of the best parts of the whole season.”
The students also found future inspiration – one sixth grader, who won the Innovation Award after visiting an archaeological site, said that he wanted to build the team idea when he grows up… “I want to be an engineer,” he told the Lockers. Another student, who won the Most Valuable Teammate award at the end of the season, “rose as a natural leader,” the coaches said.
John Mospan, who has served six of his 11 years in the Washington Elementary School District as principal at Desert View, explained what this kind of program means to his students.
“Our school is 98 percent free and reduced lunch, which means that we have an overwhelming majority of students that are facing challenges that some of their more affluent peers don’t face,” he said. “We have high confidence in all of our students. But they might not have the same opportunities that some of their peers have. So, bringing in this robotics club was a chance to provide them with some opportunities to really excel and shine in other ways that our district curriculum or our current school activity couldn’t provide.”
Beyond technical skills, the program offers an opportunity for students to develop life skills.
“The students are learning about what it means to develop teamwork, that camaraderie to work as a group and maybe achieve a goal that you could not achieve on your own,” Mospan added. “And they’re developing that skill within them that we hope will be able to translate for continued development and continuous growth over the course of the years to come.”
As a small neighborhood school with only 275 students, Mospan says being a part of the community and connecting with the community is a big part of the school’s identity – and its success.
“It’s too hard for us to do the work that we’re doing, which is critically important work, in isolation,” he said. “We need to work together as a team, just like our students do in this club where they’re developing that teamwork mentality and working collaboratively.”
Beyond ongoing partnerships with community organizations, the principal points to his team as part of the success equation.
“Over the last five years, our teachers have worked tremendously hard to support their students and have changed the school from a ‘C’ rating to an ‘A’ rating and then last year achieving an ‘A+’ rating. That speaks volumes to the hard work that our teachers and our staff have done to support our students.”
And he had high praise for the Lockers, who have volunteered their time – spending two hours a day, twice a week for the past 20 weeks – and want to bring the program back next school year. After-school funding is always in question, the Lockers said, but they have been supported by generous sponsors this year, including Elaine Michaud, the FIRST Lego League Arizona representative, and Anna Prakash, the co-founder of Education Empowers, in addition to their church. And the parents themselves were hugely supportive, Kevin said.
“The big encouragement for me was all of the people that rose to the challenge, saw the value in this and just made it possible for all this to work,” he said.
Lauren added, “I think that Desert View is a real bright light in Sunnyslope. It’s a really wonderful community and we’re privileged to be a part of it.”
Residents who would like to support the Wayfinders (team number 63924) or the school in general can make a tax credit donation to Desert View. Contact the school at 602-347-4000 or visit https://desertview.wesdschools.org. Learn more about the Arizona FIRST LEGO League by visiting https://azfll.engineering.asu.edu/fll-programs/discover.
