JOSEPH — Legos are just a set of snap-together toy building blocks that kids enjoy, right? Well, now they’re being turned into something to build a technological future for youngsters.

That was demonstrated in early January when a team of high schoolers from Lake Oswego visited Joseph Charter School to act as mentors to fifth and sixth graders participating in a project to learn about Lego robotics skills and strategies.

The Lake Oswego team Mostly Operational Robotics supports the program, which creates online lessons and videos that students watch with Joseph’s Susan Koehn, the sciences, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics teacher there.

Angele Mott Nickerson was drawn to bring the program to Joseph because of her fondness for Wallowa County and her ties here.

“I am the mentor for Mostly Operational Robotics, living in Lake Oswego with a house also in Enterprise,” she said.

Mostly Operational Robotics has 14 team members, but they brought just three when they came Jan. 4. The new group in Joseph is calling itself Eagle Robotics.

Koehn said her team is just getting its groundwork laid now and hopes to compete in its first Lego Challenge next school year.

She said while her students are gearing up for the challenge now — outside their regular science classes — it’s not just limited to the fifth and sixth graders. Eventually, it’ll be open to all students, she said. In particular, it fills a gap left in junior high where students are not yet into shop classes. She said it could be scheduled after school when sports or clubs take place.

“We need to provide a robotics experience with this modern world,” she said. “It gets hard to schedule all the electives. I’m trying to make it available next year for fifth through eighth graders.”

The whole Lego robotics program helps bring students up to speed with modern technology.

“A lot of engineering is touched on,” Koehn said. “There are lots of different challenges on the board.”

This year’s project involves an ocean challenge called “Submerged.” A portion of it is focused on a coral reef in need of restoration. During the Jan. 4 introduction to the program, the Joseph students had to release a shark at the reef.

“They’ve got to figure how to design the robot,” Koehn said.

That includes writing software coding that runs the Lego robot mechanism.

“It all has to be problem-solved,” she said. “They have to be able to problem-solve and complete the program.”

The “Submerged” theme is this year’s nationwide theme.

“That way, when you compete, everybody’s on the same playing field,” she said. The students “get ready to dive deep.”

A new theme will be announced in August for the next school year.

There also is a state challenge in which teams have four to five months to complete 15 missions, or elements of the project. That’s what the Joseph team will be challenged with next year when they qualify as an official team.

Funding, of course, will be another challenge for the Joseph team to confront. This year, their Lake Oswego mentors helped by paying the $150-$200 sponsorship fee and bringing along an expanded kit of Legos for the team.