Whiz Kid's Views on Legos, Science, Building, Writing, Creating and More

Horace Mann Middle School student Joshua LeGrande speaks beyond his years when challenged to answer questions about his interests, likes, aspirations and love of Legos.

Brandon Patch caught up with LeGrande at the , where he talked about his focus as a Lego Mindstorms challenger and his aspirations for the future.

LeGrande’s team at TechPlayzone, the Energy Elites, along with the center’s other team, Techno Whizards, served as hosts for the Jan. 7 tournament, having already won their respective bids for the Tampa Bay regional First Lego League tournament, Feb. 4, at the University Area Community Center.

There, 28 teams will compete and about 12 teams will advance to state competition Feb. 26 at the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Fla.

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BRANDON PATCH:  Why spend so much time with the Energy Elites, preparing for the First Lego League challenges?

• LeGRANDE:  Working with Legos, which is stuff we all like to do, and working with others and research, it’s all blended into one thing. It’s fun to get together with some friends and just play around and learn.

BRANDON PATCH: What specifically about it do you enjoy the most?

• LeGRANDE: There’s a lot of problem-solving. It teaches you how to solve problems, not only with the research but also in the development of building and programming. Just about everything you do you’re going to find a problem and you’re going to have to find a way to work together as a team to fix it. That helps you in solving problems and life in general.

BRANDON PATCH: What makes you tick?

• LeGRANDE: I like to build things. I like to work on my own, to discover problems and fix them. I just like to create on my own. Being an engineer, you have [before you] the entire world of science and you can do whatever you want with it.

BRANDON PATCH: What do you like most?

• LeGRANDE: I really like geometry, building things. I play with Legos a lot. I like to put things together. I like to create, to use my imagination. We’re only bound by our imagination, really. We base what we do on what we think. What we can do is greater if we have a greater imagination.

BRANDON PATCH: What are your goals for the future? What would you like to be?

• LeGRANDE: I’m planning to be either a surgeon or an architect.

BRANDON PATCH: You said you like to write, too. Why?

• LeGRANDE: I like to express my imagination in ways people can enjoy, to get pleasure out of things.

BRANDON PATCH: What do you like to write?

• LeGRANDE: I like fiction writing. I’ll take science fiction or fantasy. I don’t really think about it. It just pops into my head. It just comes randomly and I start writing it down.