November 3, 2005

SCHOOL SCENEin Almaden Valley

MEMORIES FROM HOMECOMING ’05!

Leland High School	Pioneer High School
Leland homecoming King Kevin Battipede and Queen Julie Fournier enjoying their reign.	Pioneer’s Homecoming court, from left, Shayna Young, Syra McCarthy, Whitney Feezor, Jamie Newton, Ian Elizondo, April Ham, Dino Devera, Kameron Brown, Christopher Kaufman, Caitlin Burnham, Katee Shean and Matt Hanlon. Photos by Ron Reed
David Farsai and Quianna Sanchez were crowned senior prince and princess.	Pioneer Tenth graders Christopher Barcelona and Sarah Shipwith.
Photos by Diego Abeloos	Pioneer Ninth graders Sandra Nguyen and Travis Lorius.

Leland robotics team takes it to the street

By Lorraine Gabbert
Staff Writer

With a whirring of motors and a long metallic arm, Leland High School’s prize-winning robot strutted its stuff before a fascinated crowd in front of Starbucks on Saturday, garnering contributions for its robotics team.

Leland High School’s robotics team basks in the success of its award-winning robot.

With competition entry fees of about $18,000, plus travel and expenses, community assistance is essential. That’s why the team relies on collecting donations on a monthly basis while showing off their robot’s prowess.

“We want the community to be able to see where their money is going,” said robotics team President Amy Qian. The community was obviously impressed, as the robotics team raised $806 on this Saturday alone. One man even ran home to get his checkbook in order to make a donation.

The robot, created by Leland High School freshmen and sophomores, took first place in March at the Pacific Northwest Regional Competition held in Portland, Ore. The detail-oriented robotics team was also awarded the Safety Trophy.

According to Alejandro Arambula, the winning solution was sticking with the basics. “Our robot design was simple and efficient,” he said. “Although other teams used extensive pneumatic tubing, we just used motors, and it worked really well.”

To gain three points, their robot had to stack 3-foot tetras upon 5-foot tetras. It not only succeeded, but went on to stack three in a row, creating a tic-tac-toe board, capturing 10 points.

When the judges came to evaluate the team’s safety process, they were ready. “We impressed them with our mega first-aid kit, and offered safety suggestions,” said Arambula. “Then we opened our log book where we’re required to list any team injuries.” The logbook was empty. To further seal the deal and claim the Safety Trophy for their own, they shared their incentive program for reminding members to always wear their safety goggles: punitive pushups. “I learned that one the hard way,” shared Arambula. “They actually made me do pushups!”

Team member Jennifer Mori was pleasantly surprised with how well the robotics team placed in such a competitive field. “Many of these teams have been doing this for a long time and are really good,” she said. “They have grants from NASA and practice fields, which we don’t, so it’s amazing we got this far.”

Mori attributes their success to dedication. As they only had six weeks to complete their robot before the competition, they worked on it constantly, with students working until midnight during the week, and additional hours on the weekends. “They worked really hard, dedicating countless hours,” she said.

“We weren’t planning on winning,” added teammate Gabriel Arambula. “We were a group of friends who loved robotics, just having fun together—but all of our time, organization and teamwork paid off.”

Flush from their success, in April, the robotics team went on to compete at the Nationals in Atlanta, Ga., where they ranked a respectable 37th out of 80 teams in their division. Their standing invigorated the team, and served to solidify their commitment and dedication to future projects.

“We love robotics,” says Qian, who is never without her tools. “We live, breathe and dream robotics. It’s the reason we come to school. We get up at 6:30 a.m. on Saturday mornings for this.”

Each year, the Leland team’s goal is to learn and grow, while creating a competitive robot under the guidance of teacher Helen Arrington. Evidently, they’re succeeding, because in addition to winning trophies, this year, the team grew from nine to 29 members.

Donations to the club are tax deductible, and the tax ID number for the club is 94-6002606. For more information, visit the school website at http://leland.sjusd.org/clubs/robotics/.

Los Alamitos Halloween parade is a howling success

By Jeanne Carbone Lewis
Staff Writer

Halloween has come and gone, but for Los Alamitos kids, it’s a day they will always remember.

Hula girl and teacher Joan Reckmeyer’s fourth and fifth grade class were all smiles about the Halloween Parade.

Los Alamitos Elementary School staff and PTA celebrated with their annual Halloween parade, bewitching students and parents alike. Processions of the first through sixth grade classes walked the perimeter of the school ground. Witches, cheerleaders, superheroes, Darth Vaders and Harry Potters marched to the blacktop area of the campus. There, the costumed kids paraded in front of each other to the oohs and ahs of classmates and many proud moms and dads.

And not to be left out were the parents—many dressed in costumes. PTA President Jim Kateley, master of ceremonies, dressed as the grim reaper while “Monster Mash,” “Twilight Zone,” “Purple People Eater” and “The Adams Family” music serenaded the schoolyard extravaganza.

“We have lots of parent and teacher support here and kids who are ready and willing to learn,” said Los Alamitos Principal Shyril McGuiness. “This is fun!”

Halloween costumes of all types were spied at Los Alamitos Elementary School’s Halloween Parade.

Los Alamitos teachers even had their own theme: “Happy Hulaween,” complete with grass skirts and surfboards.

“I’ve never been on a surfboard in my life,” said teacher Robert Ford as he hung 10 on the blacktop.

Ford also made a political statement on the board: Wipe out 74, 75 and 76.

Teacher Anne Piazzon got a kick out of all the brides.

“Once is enough,” said Piazzon about being married 37 years.

But the true stars of the Los Alamitos Halloween Parade were the kids. As they proudly paraded through their school, displaying their costumes and laughing with their friends, they were creating memories that would last a lifetime.

—Photos by Jeanne Carbone Lewis