C.O.R.E. 2062 would like to thank all who have supported our team so far this year. Specifically, we would like to highlight an anonymous C.O.R.E. alumnus who recently donated $5,000. This is quite a significant contribution, comprising about 25 percent of all of the donations that we have received this year. We thank this individual for their incredible generosity and commend them for their continued involvement in FIRST and our team.

However, we must also stress that donations of any size and at any time are greatly appreciated. This year in particular we have not been as financially secure as we have been in the past. We need our community’s support to be involved in FIRST; to prepare our students for their futures and spread STEM principles to those around us.

We hope that you will consider supporting C.O.R.E. 2062 for our current 2014 season. For more information contact our lead mentor Mark Spoerk at mspoerk@waukesha.k12.wi.us.

C.O.R.E. had a great time fundraising at Marquette High School.  A select group of students helped managed the concessions for two FLL tournaments hosted by the Hilltoppers, team 1732. This was of great benefit for the team and helped the Hilltoppers by freeing up their volunteers for the rest of the tournament.  All in all, this was a great two days for C.O.R.E.!

On November 12, C.O.R.E.  held a FIRST LEGO League tournament at Waukesha West! Over 35 teams showed up to compete. There were many amazing projects and creations for the judges to revel in and comment on. The highest score of these creations got over 400 points!  Even the non-robotics related parts were great! We ran a very successful concessions stand, and had a DJ rocking the tournament all the time! Overall, much fun was had by all, and we would love to do this again!

On Saturday November 3rd, 2012, C.O.R.E. volunteered and competed in the high school VEX tournament.  There was a lot of excitement in the elimination rounds, as team number 1200B made a huge comeback in the very end to overcome a point deficit.   Rookie members of  C.O.R.E. competed at the tournament also.  Although the C.O.R.E. VEX team was not on a winning alliance, all participants gave a great effort with many making it into the quarterfinals and semifinals.  One of our teams (2062E) made it as far as the final rounds. In the end, all competitors had a great time. Congratulations to Appleton 1200B for qualifying for World Competition! Keeping up with C.O.R.E. values, we made sure that everyone in the pit area were wearing safety glasses, both enforcing safety and creating good safety habits for the future.  Staffing went so smoothly that we are thinking of hosting another VEX tournament next year!

On August 30th 2012, C.O.R.E. 2062 participated in the Rockwell Automation Employee Appreciation Day.  In this event, we went to the Rockwell Automation Headquarters to demonstrate our robot and to show one of our sponsors what we’ve been up to. Six members went along who drove  the robot, talked to Rockwell employees, and learned more about different engineering careers. This was a fun, enlightening experience for C.O.R.E. members.  We would be happy to do it again!

We presented at the 2012 Wisconsin State Fair August 6-8. On the first 2 days of the 1^st Annual State Fair Robotics Rally, we provided volunteers to help at the tournament. In fact, some of our team members were chosen to be on the challenge design team for the LEGO Robotics Competition part of the competition. We showed off our robot and answered questions about FIRST Robotics on the 3^rd, and last day, of the Robotics Rally. We also gave a presentation about FIRST Robotics that uncovered curiosity about the program from all parts of the state.

CORE recently attended the Waukesha County Fair! On July 21st and 22nd,  we took roughly over 15 members to the fair.  We presented information about FIRST programs and other robotic programs to fair-goers.   We demonstrated our FRC robot at the fair and let fair-goers drive our VEX robots around.  We gave kids and adults the chance to experience robotics on a personal level.  They were able to drive three different types of robots from FLL(First Lego League), Vex, and FRC(First Robotic Competition).  Our students took what they learned about FIRST at the meetings and spread the word to our community.  Students were surprised and overwhelmed that so many kids have never even  seen a robot.  It was a joy to see the kids drive the little FLL and Vex robots and then awesome to see their jaws drop when they saw the FRC robot.

On May 3rd, 2012, C.O.R.E. volunteers spent a day giving FLL, FRC, and VEX demonstrations to students and parents of Hillcrest Elementary School. The students and parents asked questions and learned about robotics, and what it is like to be on C.O.R.E. As well as learning, the kids had fun driving VEX robots and even got to shoot baskets with C.O.R.E.’s FRC robot.  In all, there was plenty of learning and fun had at Hillcrest Math Night.

STEM for Girls is an event in which girls are introduced to careers involving Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. The venue for the event was Waukesha STEM Academy, Saratoga Campus. Girls in 6th-8th grade from all over the city were invited to the event. After an hour of free time to wander around and visit any booths that they pleased, each girl received a schedule that told them what three specialized booths to go to. There was a wide variety of choices ranging from tech advice to speakers in the STEM field. Girls were exposed to many aspects of STEM. This event was empowering and revolutionary in showing young ladies that they can succeed in careers related to STEM.
C.O.R.E. 2062’s role in this affair was hosting one of the many booths. Girl’s from all different subteams on C.O.R.E. talked about being a teenage girl and enjoying the fun of applying their skills to robotics. They discussed what it is like being on the robotics team and how to balance this and any other extracurriculars with the other aspects of high school. They also talked about how everyone has a place on the team, even if they are not interested in the actual robot.   CORE takes pride in having a balance team with girls and boys taking active, valuable roles.

Several C.O.R.E. memebers attended take your child to work day at GE.  We presented about FRC and we showed our animation.  Parents and children played with VEX and FRC robots as well as looked at the set up of an FLL table. At the end of the day, several parents said that driving the robots was their favorite part of the event.  April 12, 2012.