CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. -- Fresh off his national television appearance on "LEGO Masters," Henrico County native and University of Virginia student Ben Edlavitch is sharing some of his skills in Richmond-area classrooms. Edlavitch, who appeared with his grandfather on the most recent season of the LEGO-themed reality game show, is home from college but not out of the classroom.
He's spent the last few weeks sharing with students the life lessons that playing with LEGO sets can teach.
"I like to show some of the intersections between LEGO and architecture," Edlavitch said. "The people that go into architecture, that study it, that become professionals, they have connections to architecture. They have family members or family friends who are architects. Younger kids don't usually hear about it until high school or the first couple of years at university, in which case, some of these big institutions kind of consider a little too late to get started. So that limits the number of voices and different perspectives that you get rising into the professional field. I try and bring a little awareness to it at a young age, introduce it with something fun like Lego. And you know, maybe some of these kids will, we'll think about it as they grow up. And we'll get some more kind of interesting perspectives in the field of architecture."
On Thursday, Edlavitch built those learning blocks for students at Robious Elementary in Chesterfield County. It being the last days of school, Edlavitch knew he had to mix learning with some good old-fashioned play.
"I just want to show them that you can continue to be playful and have fun, no matter how old you get," he said. "This is a really fun way to collaborate, to get closer with your friends, to do stuff with your family. This is a great way to kind of bring people together."
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