Robotics changes attitudes
Published 6:02 pm Wednesday, April 8, 2009
On to Atlanta.
The Jackson High School Robotics team and its robot “Jack in the Bot” earned the Rookie All-Star Award at the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Seattle regional March 26-28 and advanced to the world finals which include teams from 25 different countries.
The award was based on other qualities than the robot’s performance. The criteria included team spirit; promoting FIRST at local middle schools, community events and at Boeing; recruitment of mentors for teams in Snohomish County; soliciting volunteers for the Seattle Regional; and securing college credit for all students in Snohomish County that are involved in FIRST. FIRST focuses as much on the concept of gracious professionalism as it does on competition. Helping out opposing teams when they encounter problems is an example of the gracious professionalism that is encouraged.
The Jackson students put in more than 4,000 hours into building and testing the robot in the allotted six weeks. The engineers mentoring the team contributed 5,000 hours to the project.
The team needs to raise $26,000 to attend the FIRST Championship April 16-18 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.
“We’ve been calling people and asking for donations and e-mailing people,” said Maggie Thorleifson, Jackson’s adviser, who has spent 1,000 hours helping the students.
As of April 2, Jackson had pledges for about half of the $26,000 it needed to make the trip.
The benefits of the program spread to many aspects of the student’s lives, Thorleifson said.
“The kids are looking at everything they’re doing through a new lens,” she said. “They have more of a positive attitude and a ‘let’s get this done’ attitude.”
Some have been dedicated enough to take structural mechanics class after school from 4 to 6 p.m. on Friday afternoons, even coming back to school when school lets out early.
“It’s serious work,” she said. “It’s serious physical and mathematics and they’re so interested.”
Five engineers, four from Boeing and one from FLUKE Engineering in Everett work with the team and four of them will go to Atlanta.
Brian Gattman, a Boeing engineer, is the lead mentor.
Jooris Poort, David Wilson and Joel Lopez of Boeing and David Mumaw, an electrical engineer from FLUKE, are the others.
“They’re just brilliant in their field,” Thorleifson said. “They also relate really well to students.”
Sponsors have also helped the Jackson students keep the program going in its first year.
Roger Sanford, of Terry’s Machines in Mukilteo donated space for the robot to be stored and space for kids to meet and work with equipment since there is no machine shop in the Everett School District. He also provided safety training. Gattman made a cold call to Sanford early on in the process and Sanford agreed to host the students.
“It’s a phenomenal gift,” Thorleifson said. “The kids would not have the same experience if we didn’t have that.”
Other sponsors include Boeing, FLUKE Engineering, Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, AIAA, Altair, BAE Systems, FGOD 1138, Shigeru Tsubota and Platt Computer Concepts.
To make a donation to the Jackson team send a check to Henry M. Jackson High School, Attn: JHS FIRST Robotics Team 2910, 1508 136th St. SE, Mill Creek, WA 98012. Call Thorleifson at 425-385-7183 for more information.
For more information on FIRST go to www.usfirst.org.
