January 24, 2008

SCHOOL SCENEin Almaden Valley

The future is here, robotics is a team sport

By Jeanne C. Carbone
Staff Writer

Have no doubt, the future is here as robotics has become a team sport. The Northern California FIRST LEGO League Championship [FFL] demonstrated the technical prowess and achievements of students aged 9 to 14 on Jan. 12 at Newark High School. Sixty-four of 282 Northern California robotics teams competed, including seven local teams from the Almaden Country School, Bret Harte Middle School, Castillero Middle School and Simonds Elementary School.

Simonds Elementary School’s Technology Cougar Chicks are ready for their competition at Newark High School on Jan. 12. Photo by Persi Kanga

“While robotics is normally thought of as a “boy’s” sport, there are an unusual number of all-girl teams from the South Bay in the championship,” said Simonds’ parent and coach of robotics team Technology Cougar Chicks. The team includes Sahana Bansal, Anjali Govindaraj, Sonya Huang, Nicole Kanga, Katy West and Connie Xia. They took home the Rookie Team award. “Of the13 Gunderson teams at the championship, five are all-girl teams.”

Robotics is the science and technology of robots, their design, manufacture and application. It requires a working knowledge of electronics, mechanics and software. The teams started their quest for task-completing robots in September and showcased their work at the FLL Regional held at Gunderson on Dec. 8.

Those qualifing, attended the Northern California FLL Championship. This year’s theme is co-friendly missions and how personal energy choices effect the enviornment, economy and lives around the world.

The teams are judged on a variety of factors: robot design, performance and dependability, programming, research solution, quality and presentation as well as team spirit and cooperation. The robots are built using an “NXT” toy, which is a mini-computer in a brick attached to Technic wheels, motor and sensors to program on a computer. All are Lego products.

“This was the first year the girls had participated in the FLL,” said Castillero parent and Greenalicious Strawberries Coach Laura Hall. “They spent over three months working on the competition and had to learn how to build and program the robot, get it to accomplish certain tasks.”

“They have to successfully drive the robot around a table to drop things off, pick things up and move things around, all in a two-and-a-half minute time limit. It’s very challenging but the girls picked it up very quickly. I was very proud of their hard work.”

The Greenalicious Strawberries included Annie Hall, 12, Natalie Kanga, 11, Erin Ridgway, 11 and Ayumi Yusasa,11. They won a second-place award for Robot Dependability at the Gunderson meet. But just as important, they learned the value of teamwork.

Castillero’s Innovation Wizards won third place in Robot Design. Bret Harte’s Plank E4 team won sixth place in the Robot Performance and also won the Old School Robotics award. Almaden Country School’s fourth grade rookie team, the Power Patrollers, which included Erin Weiner, Marcus Lee, Jorgos Tsatalos and Josh Vincent, scored with a 25th award win in Robot Games.

“We had two teams from Almaden Country School participate in the Northern California FLL Championship event,” said Almaden Country School teacher and San Jose Regional FLL Qualifier Tournament Director Karen Mahoney. “These kids put in hard work in to this ‘sport of the mind.’”

But perhaps the best recommendation of the FFL comes from the students themselves.

“I thought it was fun building the robots and playing with my teammates.” said Technology Cougar Chicks 9-year-old Sonya Huang. “We learned to work as a team and program robots. I liked technology and science before, but I like it even more now.”

About FIRST
For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology [FIRST] was founded by Dean Kamen to inspire young people’s interest in science and technology. In 1998, Kamen and the LEGO Group’s Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen created the FLL, a program that uses the Lego Mindstorm robotics system to engage students in playful, meaningful learning while helping them discover fun in science and technology. Teams of three to six students, guided by volunteer parent coaches, design and build an autonomous robot to accomplish tasks on a 4-foot-by-8-foot playing surface. Points are awarded for the degrees to which each task is accomplished by the team’s robot.

Allen at Steinbeck will transition to K-8 in the fall

After two years of in-depth research and strong community involvement, San Jose Unified School District’s board of education voted Dec. 13 to transition Allen at Steinbeck to kindergarten through eighth grade school.

The transformation will begin this fall with a sixth grade class of about 62 students. The school will add a grade each year following culminating with a student population of about 180 students in grades six to eight. The Allen at Steinbeck K-eighth program will allow parents and students to opportunity to choose an alternative educational setting to the traditional middle school.

Students will receive a rigorous core curriculum and electives, in a familiar and nurturing environment. Teachers will work in interdisciplinary teams teaching SJUSD’s standards based, state-adopted middle school curriculum. Service learning will be integrated into their curriculum, a component that will help develop the students’ leadership skills and knowledge of the community. Nico Flores is the current principal of Allen at Steinbeck. Having experience as both a high school and middle school administration, Flores offers a strong background in secondary education to Allen at Steinbeck’s kindergarten through eighth.

“We have great traditional middle schools in San Jose Unified, but it is not necessarily the best educational setting for all students. It is also a fact that some parents aren’t quite ready to place their fifth grade students in a middle school setting. Allen at Steinbeck will provide parents an excellent educational choice for their students.”

Enrollment in the new Allen at Steinbeck’s sixth grade class will follow the district’s “Choices” process. Allen at Steinbeck’s current fifth grade students will have first priority in the choices process, with those students in the Allen at Steinbeck neighborhood attendance receiving second priority.

Fund offers $27,000 in prizes to student artists, writers

The Asian Pacific Fund today announced that it is now accepting essays, poems and artwork by local students for the 2008 Growing Up Asian in America contest. The contest offers $27,000 in cash prizes to youth of all ages and from all Bay Area neighborhoods. The 2008 contest theme is "Winning and Losing, Competition and Teamwork."

Growing Up Asian in America encourages young people to creatively express their ideas on identity and culture. Students of all backgrounds are invited to submit entries, including Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese other Asians and Pacific Islanders and students of mixed heritage.

Students should consider questions such as, “What is it like to win or lose? Is it important to be the best at something?" and "Have you every helped a teammate? When has a teammate helped you?" They are encouraged to share stories from their own lives or about people in their communities. The Fund hopes to prompt students to think about whether or not growing up Asian in America makes their thoughts on winning and losing different from other people’s ideas.

Students compete in three grade categories: kindergarten through fifth grade, sixth through eighth grade and ninth through 12th. The first-place winners in each category receive $2,000, with second and third place receiving $1,500 and $1,000, respectively. Numerous honorable mention honors are also awarded gift merchandise.

Entries must be postmarked by Thursday, March 6, or delivered in person by 5 p.m. that day to Growing Up Asian in America, Asian Pacific Fund, 225 Bush Street, Suite 590, San Francisco, CA 94104. No entries are accepted by fax or e-mail. Winners must live in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano or Sonoma counties. Each entry must be sent with the student’s full name, grade, complete mailing address, the title of the work and the name and city of the student’s school. Guidelines are available at your local public library and online at www.asianpacificfund.org. Call (415) 433-6859 with questions, or e-mail contest@asianpacificfund.org.

Growing Up Asian in America is co-sponsored by NBC11. Other sponsors are Chevron, Safeway, Walgreens, the United Way of the Bay Area, The Mercury News, Asian Art Museum and KTSF-TV. Media sponsors include ABS-CBN International, Filipinas Magazine, The Hokubei Mainichi News, India Currents, KEST AM 1450 & KSJX AM 1500, and Ming Pao Daily.

The Asian Pacific Fund is a community foundation established to improve the health and wellbeing of all Asian Americans in the Bay Area. By providing services and awarding grants to more than 90 Asian organizations, the fund supports a broad range of local groups that help a diversity of Asian Americans. The fund is the only organization in the Bay Area focused exclusively on working closely with Asian donors, raising funds for community agencies and public education projects, and ensuring that contributions have a lasting impact.

Almaden Valley Rotary Club to hold speech contest

The Rotary Club of Almaden Valley has announced its annual speech contest will take place on Friday, Feb. 8, during its regular noon meeting at the Three Flames Restaurant, at 1547 Meridian Ave. The public is welcome.

This year's theme is "Rotary Shares - Investing in the Future" The contest allows students from grades nine to 12 the opportunity to increase their personal knowledge and awareness of the importance of effective speaking; to increase public knowledge of Rotary and its involvement in the community; and to provide the speaker the opportunity to earn monetary awards by advancing in the area, regional, and district wide contest.

Initiated in 1983 by then District Governor Richard D. King, this contest has encouraged thousands to develop effective speaking habits. King, now a past Rotary International president said, "It was a speaking contest that I was invited to join when I was very young that changed my life forever." The contest is named in his honor.

The contest is open to Oak Grove, Pioneer and Leland High Schools. "We look forward to this day each year," said Ed Lacina, speech contest chair. "Our history of success is phenomenal," he added.

Lacina was referring to the fact that the club's contest winner has moved through the area, regional and won at the district level several times. "Much of the credit for the clubs success goes to Gay Brasher, Leland High School's celebrated speech and debate teacher," he added

Interested parties may contact Ed Lacina at Murison's Flooring America, (408) 267-0220.

Scholarship available for high school seniors

West Valley Light Opera Association, a South Bay Community Theater organization, will again be awarding a 2008 performing arts scholarship for a graduating high school senior.

The West Valley Light Opera Association’s Board of Directors is pleased to announce the sixth annual Gene Pincus Memorial Theater Arts Scholarship for 2008.

WVLO believes the future of quality community theater lies in our youth. It wants to offer a deserving young person this scholarship as an aid to pursuing his/her dream.

The scholarship is dedicated to the memory of Gene Pincus, who worked tirelessly in support of WVLO for 25 years.

The scholarship will award, on a competitive basis, $500 to a Santa Clara County graduating high school senior who intends to pursue a career in theater arts and who has demonstrated a high degree of involvement in the performing arts throughout his/her high school career.

The applicant must be a graduating high school senior going on to a two- or four-year college; their intended college major must be in the theater arts; this includes acting, music (vocal), dance, or stage production; they must be a Santa Clara County resident.

Application materials must be postmarked no later than Tuesday, March 11.

For application details, please see www.wvlo.org. E-mail questions to WVLO@WVLO.org.

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