The Label Printers to sponsor the 'Robovikes'
The Robovikes are back. This year's team consists of seven returning students and seven students who are new to the program. There are no seniors on the team, but there are three students who participated as freshmen on the Robovikes rookie team, including their veteran programmer, Josh Kilmer who says that FIRST is fun and challenging, and “there's always more you can learn.”
The team also retains its veteran volunteer faculty organizer and champion, Mary Keyzer, social studies teacher at Geneva High School; her husband, Kevin, a ceramics engineer; and Joe Kane, The Label Printers' prepress department manager.
The team doesn't yet know what this year's competition will be, so team meetings involve learning what was done in past years, and getting a chance to drive the 2009-10 robot.
Drive perhaps not being the best description – the scene in the team's meeting room taking perhaps more of its cue from bumper cars. Keane Hensley, another of the veterans from the rookie team who is considering a mechanical engineering major at the University of Chicago, Carnegie Mellon, or MIT, says that FIRST is a great program for someone who's interested in engineering. But he also feels the program is good for learning to work as a group, and learning how to divide up work. And as he says, “it's a lot better than Battle Bots.”
Twins Mitchell and Derik Baer think that the Robovikes is a really good club, and that FIRST “gives kids opportunities” – as Derik says, “It's a really interesting way to get smart kids to do things that adults couldn't do.”
Another team veteran, junior Jack Wilbur, returned to the program because he thought that it was “awesome” last year, adding “Not a lot of kids can say they built a robot.” Sophomore Matt Fee, another second year member, says that he really enjoyed last year's program. He thinks that FIRST is more “hands on. Regular school is more learning out of a book.” It wasn't hard to figure out which one of those he found more interesting.
Rookie sophomore team member Michael Miltner is an avid White Sox and A.J. Pierzynski fan who played on Geneva High School's freshman baseball team this past spring. Michael loves the level of competition and the level of intelligence that the FIRST program requires. He also loves “messing” with electronics and building and can't wait to get the kit of parts.
The Robovikes will receive their robot “kit” at the beginning of January, build it over the course of the next 6 weeks, and then ship it to the February competition at the UIC Pavilion. All interested parties are invited to that competition.
Anyone interested in helping the team (space to build the robot; machine shop; engineering, robotics, video, website, or machine building mentoring; or donations of cash, goods, or services; or general volunteers) can contact The Label Printers by e-mailing Elizabeth@thelabelprinters.com or Mary Keyzer at MKeyzer@geneva304.org.
Robovikes team members include: juniors Trevor Deem, Keane Hensley, Josh Kilmer, Jake Urban and Jack Wilbur; sophomores Derik Baer, Mitchell Baer, Matt Fee, Michael Miltner and Justin Mui; and freshmen Grif McDonell, Mike Phillips, Quade Spellman and Ken Wendt.
The Label Printers in Aurora started in business in 1967, manufacturing simple label constructions in a 1,000-square-foot space, with one employee, serving the local Chicago market. Today, the company has evolved into one of the 100 largest converters in the United States. The Label Printers owns and operates two facilities in Aurora, manufacturing and distributing labels and packaging products to thousands of customers in 25 countries around the world. The company's packaging products are certified to ISO 9001 standards, and their quality is backed up by their 99.6 percent Quality Acceptance Rating.
About the FIRST Robotics Competition:
The FIRST Robotics Competition is an annual competition that helps students discover the excitement of science, engineering, and technology and the rewards a career in STEM can bring. More than 45,000 high-school students on over 1,800 teams from the U.S., Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Germany, Herzegovina, Israel, Mexico, the Netherlands, Turkey, and the U.K. participated in last year's competition.
In 1992, the FIRST Robotics Competition began with 28 teams and a single 14-by-14-foot playing field in a New Hampshire high school gym. This season more than 1,800 teams – including 278 rookie teams – will participate. Forty-three regional competitions in the U.S., Canada, and Israel, plus seven district competitions and one state championship in Michigan, will lead up to the 2010 FIRST Championship on April 27-30, in St. Louis.
FIRST programs are spearheaded by more than 90,000 dedicated volunteers worldwide, most of them professional engineers and scientists who mentor the next generation of innovators.
Participating students are eligible to apply for nearly $12 million in scholarships offered by leading universities, colleges, and companies.
Accomplished inventor Dean Kamen founded FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) in 1989 to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people. Based in Manchester, N.H., FIRST designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology, and engineering. With support from three out of every five Fortune 500 companies and nearly $12 million in college scholarships, the not-for-profit organization hosts the FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC®) and FIRST® Tech Challenge (FTC®) for high-school students, FIRST® LEGO® League (FLL®) for 9 to 14-year-olds, (9 to 16-year-olds outside the U.S. and Canada) and Junior FIRST® LEGO® League (Jr.FLL) for 6 to 9-year-olds. Gracious Professionalism™ is a way of doing things that encourages high-quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community. To learn more about FIRST, go to www.usfirst.org.
FIRST 2011 CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT –
APRIL 27 – 30 – Edward Jones Dome, St. Louis, MO
NATIONAL ROBOTICS WEEK –
APRIL 9 THROUGH 17
www.nationalroboticsweek.org/
EDUCATE TO INNOVATE –
A campaign announced by President Obama to improve the participation and performance of America's students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
See the demonstration of a FIRST team's Lunacy robot at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education/educate-innovate