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Early Learning Open House
Tuesday, February 17th, 2026 @ 9:00 AM
For new families with Toddler, Preschool, or Pre-K students interested in applying for the 2026-2027 school year.
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At Northshore Christian Academy, we are not only proud — we are truly honored — to serve the incredible students God has brought into our community. Every day, both in and out of the classroom, we have the privilege of watching them use their God‑given gifts in meaningful and creative ways. One shining example of this is our outstanding Robotics program, led by our Roarin’ Robotics Coordinator, Mrs. Jena Petrie, with support from our STEAM Director, Mrs. Teryn Jeyarajah.
The Roarin’ Robotics program is a sport for the mind where students have fun working as a team. For many families, this program has been a key reason for choosing to come to NCA.
Jena Petrie Roarin' Robotics Coordinator
How Do Our Robotics Teams Work?
Robotics at NCA begins in 2nd grade and continues all the way through 8th grade, offering students a progressive pathway to grow in robotics, coding, teamwork, and problem‑solving.
Explore Teams (2nd–4th Grade)
In FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Explore, teams of students ages 7-10 focus on the fundamentals of engineering as they explore real-world problems, learn to design and code, and create unique solutions.
Coding Teams (5th Grade)
NCA 5th graders are our bridge to the Middle School FLL Challenge Teams. Teams of students, ages 10-11, engage in problem-solving, coding, and engineering design. These teams will focus on practicing core values, robot design and coding, and presentation skills. Each student receives programming experience with a 1:1 ratio of student to robot. Teams are proud to present their designs and learning at the end of the year Coding Team Family Presentation Event.
Challenge Teams (6th–8th Grade)
Our Middle School Challenge Teams compete in FLL Western Washington region competitions. Each team is identified by a color — Blue, Yellow, Green, and Gray — together they form our unified Roarin’ Robotics. Challenge Teams engage in research, problem-solving, coding, and engineering – building and programming a LEGO robot that navigates the missions of a Robot Game. As part of Challenge, teams also design an innovative solution to a real-world problem relevant to the theme.
Across all grade levels, we currently host:
- 14 teams
- 86 robotics students
- 50 dedicated coaches and mentors, including parent mentors, alumni, and middle school student leaders.
A pillar of FLL is its Core Values — teamwork, discovery, inclusion, innovation, fun, and gracious professionalism. These values are deeply instilled in every NCA Robotics student. Impressively, nearly every season at least one of our teams brings home the Core Values Award, a powerful reflection of the character, guidance, and leadership modeled by our coaches and lived out by our students.
Our coaches and mentors are all volunteers who pour an incredible amount of time, dedication, and care into our students. Their support makes this program possible. Each year we have so much student interest and that reflects the strength of our coaches, mentors and most of all our students.
Teryn Jeyarajah STEAM Director
Middle School Robotics: Standing Out in a Competitive Field
Washington State has 550 robotics teams, with about 460 of them competing in Western Washington region alone — a number that has grown by 60 teams just since last year. It is an intensely competitive environment, with seasons potentially stretching from August to June.
This year, all four of our Middle School teams represented NCA at the Qualifiers. We are excited to share that our Green Team received the Core Values Award for their teamwork, respect, and gracious professionalism. Blue Team won the Innovation Project Award and Coach/Mentor Award. Yellow Team received the Champion Finalist Award, placing 2nd overall in the competition. Both our Blue and Yellow teams advanced to the semi-finals — an outstanding accomplishment and a testament to all of our teams’ perseverance and teamwork. At last year's Qualifiers, three NCA teams advanced to semi-finals, showing a strong pattern of excellence.
At this year’s semi-finals, our Yellow Team placed 7th in the robot game out of 28 and our Blue Team placed 9th. The Blue team earned the Core Values Finalist Award, recognizing their teamwork, gracious professionalism, and positive spirit — values that NCA holds dear. By earning this award, Blue Team secured a place in the top 24 and advanced to compete at the FIRST LEGO League State Competition hosted in Seattle at Amazon—a huge accomplishment! Last year, both our Gray and Blue teams advanced to the state competition—further cementing NCA Roarin’ Robotics’ reputation for excellence. This year at State, the Blue team continued to succeed and earned the Core Value Award. Their hard work and character, earned Blue team the chance to advance to Invitationals, just as our Gray Team did last year and competed against teams from all over the world in Florida.
Congratulations to our Blue Team and to ALL of Roarin’ Robotics teams — what an incredible accomplishment!
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Hard Work & Dedication
Through robotics, students gain invaluable skills including:
- Critical thinking
- Engineering and design processes
- Public speaking
- Scientific analysis
- Collaboration and teamwork
These are lifelong competencies that prepare them not only for high school, but for adulthood. Interest in Robotics at NCA continues to grow, with many students eager to start even earlier — our four robotics teams for the past two years have hosted an outreach project to our elementary students which resulted in almost 60 students signing up for our Explore coding teams. Mrs. Jeyarajah and our staff are continually exploring ways to expand, elevate, and innovate the Robotics experience so that every student who wants to participate can grow, stretch, and thrive.
God Is on the Move
I love being able to have our teams be part of these competitions because we are one of the few private Christian Middle Schools competing. I'm proud to see our teams stand out in a beautiful way when we circle up and pray before we compete.
Teryn Jeyarajah STEAM Director
One of the most beautiful things about NCA Robotics is how seamlessly faith and innovation come together. In competitive spaces where we are often the only private Christian school, our presence shines in powerful and meaningful ways. As we look at all our students have accomplished, we are reminded that every gift, talent, and opportunity ultimately comes from the Lord. Through Robotics, our students are not only learning how to build and design — they are learning how to honor God with their minds, their teamwork, and their character. We believe God is using this program to grow leaders who will boldly impact the world for His glory, and we cannot wait to see how He continues to move through NCA’s Robotics program in the years to come.
NCA invites you to come and see all 14 of our Roarin’ Robotics Teams and their robots at this year's annual STEAM Expo on February 20th. STEAM Expo Registration 2026
