I hope everyone had a good 4th of July!

Anyway, just a (late) reminder that we have a meeting on Tuesday, July 5, from 1PM to 4PM at StudentRND. We’re going to start prototyping today.

Also, don’t forget that we will have meetings every Tuesday and Saturday from 1PM to 4PM from now on!

Hey there, everyone! Here are some upcoming events:

• 1st Summer Robotics Meeting: Thursday, 6/23, from 1 PM to 4 PM, at the new StudentRND office (Address: 1405 132nd Ave NE, Suite 3, Bellevue, WA). Anyone who plans on doing VEX should especially come.
• Robotics Car Wash: Saturday, 6/25, from 10 AM to 4 PM, at the Arco Gas Station in Kirkland (Address: 13055 NE 70th Pl, Kirkland). Please come—we are working in shifts from 10 AM–1 PM and 1 PM–4 PM! Bring money for lunch if you plan on working around noon.

Hope to see all of you there!

Hope you guys are having a great summer! We’ve just had our BBQ at Crossroads Park today, and it was a blast! Thanks to everyone who came and brought food for us. I would like to especially thank all of our mentors, who have sacrificed their time to spend it with us.

If you’re in the VEX team that’s working over the summer, just as a reminder, you’re meeting on Thursdays and Sundays.

Looking forward to seeing all of you guys next year!

Hello there, hope all of you are done with AP/IB testing and have rested a bit.

Upcoming events:

• May 25: We will be going over this year (the good, the bad, what we can improve on, and saying our thank you’s). We will also have a Guest Speaker, Lisa Middlebrook, at 2:00pm.
• May 26: BSF Luncheon – We need to have the robot ready by then, and a presentation.
• May 27: Friday meeting – Clean up, prepare for all-staff presentation, student presentation, and off-season projects.

We will continue to have Wednesday and Friday meetings until the end of the year. There will also be summer meetings, so stay tuned for those.

On Sunday, May 15, at 8 PM ET/PT, CNN will host a special show named “Education in America: Don’t Fail Me,” where three FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) teams will be featured in the show. The show portrays the future of American education, with the advent of FIRST, which engages students in science and technology.

The three teams that will be featured are:

• FRC Team 842, Falcon Robotics, Carl Hayden High School, Phoenix, Ariz.
• FRC Team 1403, Cougar Robotics, Montgomery High School, Skillman, N.J.
• FRC Team 3675, Eagletrons, Seymour High School, Seymour, Tenn.

Greetings Friends of FIRST!

I am pleased to announce the airing of a TV special scheduled for this coming weekend on CNN entitled ‘Education in America: Don’t Fail Me,’ hosted by Soledad O’Brien, which prominently features three FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) teams as they navigate the 2011 FIRST season. I have seen a preview of this special and it is very thought provoking about the future of education in this country and how you, as a part of FIRST, can help for the better.

I hope you will join with me in watching this incredible special. Please also tell 10 of your friends to do the same. We want to get the word about FIRST as far and wide as possible.

Please mark your calendar and tune in to CNN, Sunday, May 15 at 8 PM ET/PT. (Check your local listings for channel info and broadcast times.)

Regards,

Jon Dudas
President, FIRST

What a time we had at St. Louis! After a few mishaps during the competitions, we ended 38th in the Archimedes division with a 5-5 W-L record. Although we were not chosen to become part of an alliance, we still managed to do extremely well this year, and hope to do better in the future.

Saints Robotics members: There will be no meetings for the next few weeks, due to AP/IB testing. Study for your tests, do well on them, and come back on Wednesday, 5/25!

A tornado swept through St. Louis airport Friday night, causing a canceling of flights and a loss of power to the airport. Flights are expected to resume on Sunday. Thankfully, FIRST-related buildings were left unharmed by the tornado, so the event should be left unaffected.

If you did not go to the meeting on Friday, please check in with the group you are leaving with as soon as possible. You should have received an email from Mr. Cooney, and your group may have sent carpool/specific flight information for your group. In general, make sure that you arrive at the airport two hours ahead of time, so that we can get through security checking without missing our flight.

Specific plane tickets will be given on Tuesday, 4/26, a day before leaving, except for those leaving on Tuesday, who will receive their tickets earlier. Most of the tickets will be E-Tickets, though some are not, so if you have one of the paper tickets, do not lose it, otherwise you cannot get on your flight.

Hope to see everyone at St. Louis! 4 days left!

SR members: For those of you going, the forms need to be turned in as soon as possible. Also, we have decided to have a parent meeting on Friday at 6:30 PM. This will give the opportunity for your parents to ask any last minute questions and to meet the adults going on the trip.

9 more days left…

FRC Championships is in less than a week and a half, but we still have a lot of work to do!

We’re holding two extra meetings from 3 PM to 5 PM on Monday and Tuesday, as we are shipping the robot out to St. Louis on Wednesday. There are a couple things we need to add to the robot, and programming needs to calibrate the arm. Drive practice is also a top priority right now.

SR members who are attending championships should have received an email from Mr. Cooney concerning flights to and from St. Louis. Students and their parents should fill out parent consent forms, medical emergency forms, travel expense forms, and prearranged absence forms, and have them returned as soon as possible.

• Medical Consent form
• Parent Permission form
• Preexcused Absence form
• Travel Liability form

The countdown begins! 10 more days left…

Just a reminder for those that are interested in volunteering some time, the Newport Heights science fair is on Thursday, April 14, from 6 PM to 8 PM, at Newport Heights Elementary school. We will be demoing some VEX robots there, as well as talking about what we do as a club, and we need volunteers! We will most likely be there by 5:30 to set up.