Team Picnic 8.8.10
This year our team spent half a day at Bethesda Park for the annual team picnic. We enjoyed a relaxing day full of many fun activities. One of our team’s favorite sports is Ultimate Frisbee. We engaged in a few very intense rounds of this extremely fun sport. For our lunch, our team had a pleasant potluck meal; every family brought a dish for the group to share.
Waukesha Engineering Preparatory Academy Presentation 8.3.10
Each year students who are in the Engineering Academy and are on the C.O.R.E. team give a presentation to the incoming engineering students. This presentation gives them an initiation to our team, an introduction to the Engineering Academy and a foundation for the next four years of school in the Academy.
Indiana Robotics Invitational 7.16 – 7.17.10
Our team participated in the prestigious Indiana Robotics Invitational Competition. Sixteen of our team members traveled to Indianapolis, Indiana to represent C.O.R.E. 2062 in the final competition of the year. We placed 75th out of 78 teams. Even though this was a rather low ranking, we were still honored to have attended the Indiana Robotics Invitational.
Summerfest 7.2.10
During the summer, our team looks for ways to spread the message of FIRST in our community. After our second year of participating in FIRST, our team was excited to continue competing during the off-season at Summerfest, a Midwest regional music festival. We participated in exhibition matches hosted by Charger Robotics. Typically people don’t expect do see a group of high school students building and competing with robots at a music festival! People were excited to learn about FIRST Robotics, to meet students interested in STEM education and to watch the epic battle between our robots. We continue to show our robotics skills at this music festival annually.
Annual Team Awards Banquet 6.5.10
Each year we have an awards banquet that was held by one of our largest sponsors. This year our team gathered at Rockwell Automation for the Annual Team Awards Banquet. Rockwell provided us with a lovely dinner. Awards ranging from participation to excellence were given to various team members. At the end of the evening, Rockwell provided tours of the inside of the Allen Bradley Clock Tower. For those unaware, this clock is the largest in the world!
School Board Meeting 6.1.10
Student groups which achieve great heights in the School District of Waukesha are requested to give a Bright Lights presentation to the school board. On June 1st, our robotics team gave a Bright Lights presentation to the board. Our demonstration, which has been hailed as one of the greatest student exhibitions ever presented to the BOE, and was frequently rerun on the school district’s cable TV station!
After this presentation, we received feedback from board members. One of the school board members said:
“Thank you for your time and energy allocated to organizing and presenting a wildly successful Bright Lights presentation around FIRST Robotics. Even at 11:45 pm as we exited the Board Room last night, members of the BOE were still talking about the great presentation. Your attention to detail in preparation, professionalism and enthusiasm resonated well for Board members and the large audience on hand. This signature program helps make this district great!”
During this presentation, we showed to the school board our successes at the past year’s competition as well as all of the other great things that we are working to accomplish. We explained the amazing things we are learning as a result of C.O.R.E. We also expressed that we felt as if we had proven to the community that with the help of mentors, students can achieve greatness at an adult level parallel.
This presentation was needed for the growth of team. Now whenever someone is seen wearing the robotics team shirt in school, they are recognized and put in high regard as a person on C.O.R.E.
Waukesha South High School’s Middle School Night 5.10.10
We participated in Waukesha South High School’s Middle School Night, which is an evening to show middle school students the opportunities they have in after-school activities, clubs and sports and to encourage them to join when they get to South. We had a booth where we handed out pamphlets and answered any questions from the future South students and their parents. We showed off two of our past robots: Cratus (Breakaway, ’10) and Mizuki (Lunacy, ’09).
MPTV Auction 5.1.10
The MPTV auction benefits Milwaukee Public Television. Members of our team answered phones and typed in the orders. Additionally, a few team members were asked to help model, to display and to enhance the auction objects. The experience was great, and it was an extremely fun day.
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Hillcrest Elementary School Math Night Demonstration 4.29.10
Our team demonstrated and shared our intelligence at the Hillcrest Elementary School Math Night. We brought our robot, Cratus, and many VEX Robots. The elementary students and their parents all had a lot of fun learning. Everyone was invited to test drive Cratus and take turns using the VEX Robots. We informed parents and students about the exciting world of STEM*, robotics and how they could get involved.
*STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering & Math
Celebration of Excellence 2.14.10
Our team has contributed in the community in many ways, including the Celebration of Excellence for the School District of Waukesha. At the Celebration, there were booths for all the different programs in the school district, one of which was C.O.R.E. 2062. During the event, several of our members explained who we are and what we do as a team to potential new members, contributing taxpayers, the mayor, teachers and the school board. We explained C.O.R.E. and FIRST to many visitors and volunteers at the event. After the event, we helped clean up the building and put tables and chairs in their places. The Celebration of Excellence for the School District of Waukesha was one of many ways we helped to spread the word of FIRST and gain support in our community.
Kickoff 1.9.10
What an exciting day! After all members were accounted for, we reviewed what the plans were for the day and loaded up to go to Waukesha County Technical College to view the live NASA feed with other teams. Once there, we saw Dean Kamen and other VIP’s talk about the mission of FIRST and their goals for this year. Dean’s mission was to get more non-FIRST spectators in the stands. Next we learned about the game, Breakaway. The game design committee added a new member from Cirque-du-Soleil and it did not fail to impress. This promised to be the most exciting game yet, featuring standard soccer balls as this year’s ball of choice. This year we didn’t have a shortage of orbit balls like last year.
Kickoff Safety Workshop 1.8.10
Our entire team is very proud of our safety program and feels that it is important to share information about our program with any other teams that may be interested. At the safety workshop, we gave other teams ideas and an overview of our program and how it works for us. We hope that other teams will adopt some of our ideas and will make safety an important part of their team. Our program includes concepts such as Personal Protective Equipment, Lock Out Tag Out and frequent safety tests and training workshops.
Christmas Party 12.22.09
It’s not all about work for C.O.R.E. and we find time in our busy schedules to get together and relax a little. During the Christmas season of 2009, we took a Tuesday off in December to have a Christmas party with all of our mentors and members. While spending an evening of enjoying each other’s company, we played board games and ate snacks. The party got everyone excited for kickoff and the build season. We realized we would inevitably spend the next 6 weeks together creating memories like the ones we had during that Christmas party. Spreading the holiday cheer put us in a good mood which we hoped to hold onto for the rest of the season.
Christmas Clearing Council 12.19.09
As a way of helping out in the community, C.O.R.E. attended the Christmas Clearing Council in 2009. Here we helped pass out various toys and clothes to less fortunate families in need of Christmas presents for their children. To be able to help out some families and to see the joy on their faces when receiving their gifts was rewarding for us. We were more than happy to help out some families during the giving season and it put us all in a good Christmas mood.
Mukwonago FLL Setup 11.14.09 & Concessions 11.15.09
We provided assistance setting up and tearing down the Mukwonago FLL Regional and Wisconsin State FLL tournaments. Some of the tasks for which students were responsible included: setting up tables in the pits, laying out field elements, and organizing and setting up judging rooms. This event gave us an opportunity to help support FLL and help promote younger students’ interests in STEM. We also set up a small concessions stand for selling soda and candy. This event allowed us to earn volunteer hours and also to raise funds for the build season.
