Alan LeVezu

This is Alan's second year coaching the Lego Guards. 

He is the Senior Systems Engineer for IDAC West and has been doing Controls Engineering for a long, long time.  The Lego Guards think he is the smartest guy that they have ever met.

He also sings in a Barbershop chorus and sometimes in a quartet, does sound and lights for local shows, is the DJ for local school dances, has his own podcast (4-cast.tv) and enjoys being game master for role playing games.  He likes to camp in the summer and nordic ski in the winter (with his Malamute, Vala, pulling him) and, of course, he enjoys spending any extra time he has with his family!

Heidi Buck

This is Heidi's first year involved with the Lego Guards. She is also the Lego Guard's art teacher - as she teaches Visual Art at the  Placer County Office of Education - Independent Home Study School (where they take classes).

In her spare time, she is a professional artist, and you can see her awesome oil paintings at

www.heidibuck.com and her infamous fairy eating dragons at:  www.hbdragon.com

Hi, my name is Justin Demma and I am 13 years old and have been with the Lego Guards for 2 years now. The way i got involved was when I first went to homeschool, in one of the information sheets I saw an opening for this and decided to check it out. I pretty much liked it immediately and signed up for the team. Now my first year we did pretty good we got the best engineering award in the first competition and then we got 3rd place in Northern California State. This year we have done even better we got 1st place in our first competition and we got 1st place in NorCal. Last year we had 9 team members, but 6 of them couldn't continue. But this year we got more help with our 2 new members: Gavin and Al.

My name is Gavin Owens; I am 12 years old, and in 7th grade.  I am home schooled with the Placer County Office of Education Home-study Program. Science is one of my favorite subjects, so robotics is something that I love.  Our coaches, Alan and Heidi, have helped us quite a bit, so we owe them a lot.  I have gained a lot of knowledge from robotics this year.  I never thought that I would join a robotics that wins first place in Northern California after seeing a sign for the team on a bulletin board.

Well, my name is Karl LeVezu (Nicknamed “It”) and I am 14 years old and in 9th grade. I am the main mechanical engineer and mainly work on the robot, but I have programed several of the missions. Although my main roll is as the main engineer I, including the rest of the team, do everything - not just one small little thing. My parents are the coaches, Alan LeVezu and Heidi Buck, being both parents and coaches I would have to say they are a doing a great job. This is my third year being part of the FLL and my second year as a Lego Guard. The first year I was learning the ropes and then the second year we placed third in Northern California. Now of course we won that tournament and are going to international! Probably my favorite thing about the whole thing, stealing this from Gavin, is when everything is going wrong around you. Because then you have to fix it and you are then thriving from the adrenalin and everything else that is happening around you. Outside of the Lego Guards I am friends with everyone on the team and often hang with them when not in a meeting. Other than Robotics I have many hobbies: from Warhammer, running a Website, and making music/ being a DJ.

My name is Robin Moss, but some of you know me as Nibor.  At 14 I am the oldest member and have been on the team for three years (two as a Lego Guard).   My job on the team is the main programmer.    What I like most about Lego is programming the robot to do all of the missions. This year definitely has been the best out of the 3; I've made new friends, learned a lot about alternative energy and just had a great experience with the team. A couple interesting facts about me is that I'm obsessed (emphasize the word obsessed) with bracelets I have about 50 on right now. I've also been in the PCOE home study program for 6 years!!!!   My hobbies include horse back riding, piano and drawing.

I would like to thank all my teammates, coaches, and my parents.

 My name is Alejandro Vega, I am twelve, and in sixth grade.  I homeschool through the Placer County Office of Education Home-study Program.  History is one of my favorite subjects in school.  My favorite part of being a Lego Guard is working on the presentation of our research project.  I really enjoy our coaches, Alan and Heidi, who have been a great help to us, and are just plain great people.  This year has been the best year of my life, and I have expanded my knowledge quite a bit, especially about energy conservation.  I have learned to enjoy the fact that when we are at a competition and when everything goes wrong and breaks down just to have fun.  I really enjoy all of my teammates as well, and i am great friends with all of them outside of LEGO.  My hobbies are bike riding, backpacking, and hanging out with friends.

Here's our new team picture!