In the last 18 months a remarkable project in the Newton Public Schools went from a Newton parent’s suggestion to successful implementation, fostering student involvement in the critical areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
It was the launch of our joint high school rookie robotics team, the Ligerbots (www.ligerbots.com) by a unique collaboration, comprising the community, school administration, teachers, 60 students from both high schools, Northeastern University Nutrons (www.nutrons.neu.edu), NEMO (www.firstnemo.org), the Newton Schools Foundation, NASA, and a number of local corporations: PTC, Boston Engineering, Raytheon and Textron.
It started with an email I received on November 12, 2007 just days after I was elected to the school committee on a math and science platform. The sender was Robin Saitz, a local parent, engineer, and executive at Needham-based PTC who introduced me to FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (www.usfirst.org) which was founded in 1989 by Dean Kamen, perhaps best known as the inventor of the Segway human transporter.
She pointed me to the “Amazing Things Happen" video about the FIRST Robotics competition including footage from the competition and testimonials from students and mentors: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyavvQEDYW0.
It was obvious that this was a great way to foster science, technology, engineering and math - teams of kids building robots and competing in robot competitions.
The ball started rolling. A contingent of Newton faculty and administrators visited the Boston Regional FIRST competition at the Agganis Arena at Boston University in March, 2008. A week later, Jeff Young gave the go ahead to field a Newton team at the FIRST Boston Regionals in 2009.
A team formed along lines which can best be described as a fledgling business, drawing on the talents and skills of students from both high schools, with business, marketing, build and dance/spirit groups.
In May, with a robot borrowed from the Northeastern Nutrons they competed in a robotics competition at Northeastern University. By late September, $10K in stipends, for the Newton staff mentoring the students, was squeezed out of the NPS budget, enabling corporate and government sponsors to donate a further $23K.
On January 3, the official FIRST kit of robot parts arrived and the team began its 6 week effort to design and build a robot to execute the competition mission (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnGfbGzEFrM).
After huge amounts of effort, the Ligerbots were ready for action and competed at the Boston Regional in March, 2009 where they won the Top Rookie Seed Award, coming in 9th out of 53 teams. They also earned the right to compete in the FIRST World Championship in Atlanta, Georgia in April by winning the Rookie All Star Award, an award given for exemplifying a young but strong partnership effort between the two Newton high schools and the community, as well as implementing the mission of FIRST to inspire students to learn more about science and technology.
The Boston success was repeated at the Hartford Regional, where they recused themselves from consideration for the Rookie All Star Award so other rookie teams could have a chance, and were instead awarded the Rookie Inspiration Award and Rookie Top Seed (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHobXYTwFKM).
With Atlanta in view and 30 kids, mentors and a robot to transport, funding became a $20K problem. The Newton administration kicked in $4K for the registration fee, PTC and Textron added $2K each and $12K came from private donors. Staff loaded up credit cards ahead of securing funds, much hair stood on end, but it all worked out.
In Atlanta, the realities of experimental machines intervened and although the Ligerbots machine stayed up and running throughout, one of their team partner robots went dead in two of four losses and they were knocked out.
The Ligerbots today are a bunch of kids totally transformed by this remarkable experience. Not only have they competed, but they have presented their team to CEOs, executives, professionals, and academics, as well as young kids. Half of them are freshmen, so we have built in durability and a strong base of experience. They will also nurture STEM in the elementary and middle schools as part of their mission, especially our growing parent-lead elementary and middle school FIRST Lego robotics teams.
The Newton science, technology and career tech staff and parents who spend endless hours to make this project successful are heros and deserve our highest praise.
For the upcoming 2010 competition, stipends have been lined up, sponsors are being sought again, but private, local donations are crucial. Donations can be made to support the Ligerbots at
www.ligerbots.com.
And a final pitch.
Harry Sanders, a local parent, is looking for student help to build a mobile robotic system to enable Sidewalk Sam, a Newton resident, who is paralyzed from the waist down, to continue doing his sidewalk art (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidewalk_Sam). Interested students can contact Harry through me at
geoff@geoffepstein.net.
