Passion, perseverance and months of hard work have taken a team of Ballina students all the way to an international robotics competition in Sydney.

Seven students from Emmanuel Anglican College are competing in the FIRST LEGO League Asia Pacific Open Championships at Macquarie University.

For the students and their teacher, Julie Beavis, the journey to the international stage has taken nearly a year.

The team secured its place after progressing through regional competition, then advancing from the national championships on the Gold Coast to the Asia Pacific finals in Sydney.

For Ms Beavis, reaching this level is a rare achievement.

“I’ve only had one team make it to this level in the last 10 years, so it is a little exciting and overwhelming,” she said.

The FIRST LEGO League competition challenges students across four categories – robot design, robot challenge, innovation and core values – with teams assessed on technical ability, creativity, teamwork and problem-solving.

Ms Beavis said she was especially confident in the team’s robot, which the students designed using their own ideas rather than following a standard template.

“I am very confident in our robot design. It is very unique because we didn’t follow a certain structure,” she said.

The Emmanuel team consists of seven students – two in Year 8 and five in Year 10 – who have spent months designing, building and programming their robot after beginning the project in August last year.

Their commitment has extended well beyond the classroom, with one student’s parent transporting the robot from Ballina to Sydney in a van to ensure it arrived safely.

Although the students are competing against dozens of teams from across the Asia-Pacific region, Ms Beavis hopes their efforts will be recognised.

“I hope the students receive some sort of award, such as the Rising Star Award, because it is their first time competing at this level – maybe even for robot design,” she said.

“There are so many teams we have to be colour coded, and being from a small country town we might get lost.”

Regardless of the outcome, Ms Beavis said qualifying for the championships was already an incredible achievement, reflecting the dedication, resilience and teamwork the students have shown throughout the past year.

The Asia Pacific Open Championships bring together young innovators from across the region, giving students the chance to test their robotics and engineering skills while meeting competitors from around the world.

Photo: Byron Rushby, Ted Gibson, Evie Edwards, Noah Weatherhead, Michael De Bruyn, Lucas Buckley and Callum Liska are the Emmanuel Anglican College team, with teacher Julie Beavis,  competing in the FIRST LEGO League Asia Pacific Open Championships at Macquarie University.