As members of the S.T.E.M. community, spreading our knowledge and passion for robotics is very important to us. In our school, members of our team regularly visit the Kindergarten to instruct the kindergarteners how to build their LEGO creations and program them using WeDo, sparking their newfound love for robotics and computing. Team members also mentor the Middle School FLL team, the Basement Cubs, to brainstorm ideas as to how best to accomplish tasks on the FLL field. As our school’s veteran FTC team, we feel that it is our job to make sure that everyone in our school is educated about computer science. We believe that if kids start learning computer science at a young age, they will absorb the logic and problem-solving skills that they are taught and apply them in their daily lives and future.
In our determination to share our robotics knowledge with as many people as possible, we have established relationships in our greater community. Last year we began a partnership with the George Jackson Academy, a school for gifted, underprivileged boys in New York City, with the goal of helping them have an amazing FLL team. We ran a bake sale at our school to pay their entrance fee and fund their team, raising $867 total. With the help of the Nursery Division, Lower Division and Middle Division we were able to put together thirteen complete kits instead of the five that we had originally planned for, so now each child gets their own kit to build with. This year, we also intend to mentor their FLL team by Skyping with them throughout their season and by having them come to our school to use our equipment and receive first-hand advice from our team members, many of whom are FLL alumni. INSERT PART ABOUT TOY DRIVE
Our team also collaborates with other FTC teams outside of our school. We started a partnership last year with FTC Team 9794, Wizards.exe, in Rockville, MD, with whom we still Skype once a month to present our robots and exchange ideas. We stay in constant communication with them via email whenever questions arise or to cheer each other on before competitions. INSERT PART ABOUT DALTON AND LANCERS
For two years, we have hosted multiple FIRST competitions at our school and team members have volunteered for positions, from judging to inspection. We were not just able to help run the competition smoothly, but also able to learn more about competitions and see them from other perspectives, such as from that of a judge. Last year, we hosted the February 10th Bronx FLL Qualifier, with team members refereeing, scorekeeping, judging and emceeing the event. On February 23rd, the day before the NYC States Competition, we also hosted a scrimmage that was attended by five other FTC teams including ours to give ourselves and other teams the chance to practice and get ready for the competition the next day. INSERT PART ABOUT HOSTING ANOTHER FLL COMPETITION THIS YEAR
We feel as though we have touched every level of robotics at our school, and we have fulfilled last year's’ goal to extend our reach to areas outside of our school community as well. Due to an increase in interest at our school, stemming from when FTC was first started, our school now has two Jr. FLL teams (Lower Division), two FLL teams, a Girls' Robotics RoboCup team (Middle Division), two FTC teams (4326, and 9681) and one FRC team (5806). Looking forward, we intend to establish partnerships with our middle school, especially our MD Girls' Robotics team, and to further establish relationships with our greater community. We hope to help make a difference and inspire others to do so too.
