National Sea Perch Competition RCPA
Donation protected
***Update: Thank you again for all for your generosity! - Mr. Weintraub***
Our students on our robotics team are the definition of a Cinderella Story. They are the epitome of what it means to be "underdogs" that have worked tirelessly to surpass and crush the limitations that others have placed on them. Our students at Roberto Clemente learned how to believe in themselves in an environment where no one ever gave them a chance, and they showed people that they were worthy of believing in. Our story is one of overcoming seemingly impossible obstacles and still pushing forward against the odds to achieve success. We have never been more proud of my students then last Friday when they showed what is possible with hard work, preparation, and passion. We competed against 50 public, charter, private, and parochial schools from four surrounding states in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Delaware in the Eastern Regional Sea Perch Competition. Many of these schools received more funding than our program, and a large amount had access to pools to practice in on their campuses, while we only had access to a small and shallow pool to practice in four times this spring. Many of our competitors also made robotics into a class that was offered every day during school, as opposed to a two day after school program like ours . The majority of schools also have competed for all or almost all 11 years that this competition has existed for, while we participated in the competition for only the past three years. Three years ago in 2014 during our very first competition, our team placed 15th out of 50 schools, and last year in 2015, we made massive progress and placed 6th out of 50 schools. Despite all of these daunting challenges, our team shattered all expectations this year by ranking 1st Place Overall in the entire competition out of all 50 schools! We also won 1st Place in the Naval Engineering Process, 2nd Place in Vehicle Performance, 2nd Place in Scientific Notebook Design, 2nd Place in the Company Presentation to U.S. Naval Captains, and 3rd Place in Team Spirit & Sportsmanship! As if this excitement was not enough, our team also is advancing to the 2016 U.S. National Sea Perch Competition in Baton Rouge at Louisiana State University in Louisiana on May 20th-21st, where we will be competing against 150 middle schools from all over the country! We are very proud of our team's determination and our drive to overcome all obstacles to become the best we can be. And we are beyond proud of our students for becoming the very first team from the School District of Philadelphia to ever win the Eastern Regional Competition, and the first to ever represent the School District of Philadelphia Public Schools in the U.S. National Competition!
In order to compete in this year's National Competition, we need to raise funding to help our team afford to pay for registration and travel expenses. We worked so tiresslessly this year to succeed in the Regional Competition, that our small amount of funds have been depleted. Unfortunately, we have only about two weeks to make our dream of competing at Nationals a reality. Although we would love to send our entire team of students, the amount needed is very high, especially in such a short time frame. We would love to have enough money to at least register two students to compete, which is the minimum amount of students, plus myself and Mr. Ross Weintraub as their teachers to chaperone them and help them prepare for all aspects of the competition. We are asking you to consider helping us raise some of the funds that we need in order to make our dream come true and to help spread our story to be an example to other students and teams that believe in themselves when no one else has. Our team is appreciative of every single penny that you might be able to donate to our cause because every little bit helps us more than you could ever imagine! We thank you for all of your love, support, and prayers, and well wishes along the way! #ThankATeacher #GoFundMe
Our students on our robotics team are the definition of a Cinderella Story. They are the epitome of what it means to be "underdogs" that have worked tirelessly to surpass and crush the limitations that others have placed on them. Our students at Roberto Clemente learned how to believe in themselves in an environment where no one ever gave them a chance, and they showed people that they were worthy of believing in. Our story is one of overcoming seemingly impossible obstacles and still pushing forward against the odds to achieve success. We have never been more proud of my students then last Friday when they showed what is possible with hard work, preparation, and passion. We competed against 50 public, charter, private, and parochial schools from four surrounding states in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Delaware in the Eastern Regional Sea Perch Competition. Many of these schools received more funding than our program, and a large amount had access to pools to practice in on their campuses, while we only had access to a small and shallow pool to practice in four times this spring. Many of our competitors also made robotics into a class that was offered every day during school, as opposed to a two day after school program like ours . The majority of schools also have competed for all or almost all 11 years that this competition has existed for, while we participated in the competition for only the past three years. Three years ago in 2014 during our very first competition, our team placed 15th out of 50 schools, and last year in 2015, we made massive progress and placed 6th out of 50 schools. Despite all of these daunting challenges, our team shattered all expectations this year by ranking 1st Place Overall in the entire competition out of all 50 schools! We also won 1st Place in the Naval Engineering Process, 2nd Place in Vehicle Performance, 2nd Place in Scientific Notebook Design, 2nd Place in the Company Presentation to U.S. Naval Captains, and 3rd Place in Team Spirit & Sportsmanship! As if this excitement was not enough, our team also is advancing to the 2016 U.S. National Sea Perch Competition in Baton Rouge at Louisiana State University in Louisiana on May 20th-21st, where we will be competing against 150 middle schools from all over the country! We are very proud of our team's determination and our drive to overcome all obstacles to become the best we can be. And we are beyond proud of our students for becoming the very first team from the School District of Philadelphia to ever win the Eastern Regional Competition, and the first to ever represent the School District of Philadelphia Public Schools in the U.S. National Competition!
In order to compete in this year's National Competition, we need to raise funding to help our team afford to pay for registration and travel expenses. We worked so tiresslessly this year to succeed in the Regional Competition, that our small amount of funds have been depleted. Unfortunately, we have only about two weeks to make our dream of competing at Nationals a reality. Although we would love to send our entire team of students, the amount needed is very high, especially in such a short time frame. We would love to have enough money to at least register two students to compete, which is the minimum amount of students, plus myself and Mr. Ross Weintraub as their teachers to chaperone them and help them prepare for all aspects of the competition. We are asking you to consider helping us raise some of the funds that we need in order to make our dream come true and to help spread our story to be an example to other students and teams that believe in themselves when no one else has. Our team is appreciative of every single penny that you might be able to donate to our cause because every little bit helps us more than you could ever imagine! We thank you for all of your love, support, and prayers, and well wishes along the way! #ThankATeacher #GoFundMe
Organizer
Alyson Iovacchini
Organizer
Philadelphia, PA