Gilford Robotics Competition Fund
Donation protected
Hi! Thanks for stopping in to find out more about our team!
We are currently seeded in 7th position out of 181 New England teams. Last month, we earned FIRST PLACE as the Granite State District Event Winners. This qualified us for the New England District Championship held in Hartford, CT, where we’ll compete against the best teams in New England and hopefully qualify for the World Championship held in St. Louis, MI. But our team funds have been maxed out for the year. Just one competition costs many thousands of dollars in registration fees alone, not even including travel expenses to transport 25 kids (and a 120-pound robot!) to Connecticut and, hopefully, Missouri.
So we desperately need YOUR help! Please consider donating to our small-town team to inspire STEM in amazing ways. And please share this link with your friends and family. Thank you!
Who are we?
We’re 25 kids in a small New England town who are passionate about robotics. We’re FIRST robotics team #1831 the Gilford Screaming Eagles. Every season we’re given a new challenge to solve, and we have 6 weeks to build a 120-lb robot to complete the tasks.
While we love this yearly challenge, we also, as a team, strive to show our communities that technology is fascinating, girls can be proficient engineers, and teamwork is more effective than individual endeavors.
How are we encouraging STEM within our community?
Elementary and middle schoolers are the future leaders of FRC, engineering, and the world, so it’s imperative to encourage these young students to fall in love with engineering, technology, and science. We aim to instill and fuel these passions not only within our team, but also within our community.
Parades and Expos
Local children eagerly expect to see our newest robot driving down the streets of our town as part of our Old Home Day parade, because we’ve done so every year of our team’s existence. We also loved demonstrating our FRC robot at the local elementary/middle school, during their STEM Expo, to interact with students and introduce them to FIRST. We generate excitement and have young kids asking how they can some day join our team.
Robotics Camp and FLL
To further share our love for robotics, a member of our team taught Mindstorms at a local, elementary summer camp. We also talked to and met with multiple people in our community to encourage them to start FIRST Lego League (FLL) teams. These teams will introduce younger students to the thrill of programming, problem solving, and effective design strategy. Additionally, we held a conference call with FIRST headquarters about our desire to run our own FLL qualifier in the near future and how we can work with headquarters to make it a reality. One step in that direction was earning 2 scholarships, from FIRST headquarters, for 2 FLL teams to start up. Our team started and coached two new FLL teams one in each of the two towns represented by members of our team: Gilford and Gilmanton. Neither of our towns had previously had an FLL team. One team went on to win a 1st place trophy at their qualifier!
Encouraging Girls to Join the Fun
Since we only have two girls out of 22 students, we see first hand, every meeting, that there’s something missing in the world of robotics and technology, and we want to change that. You see, at a young age, most girls aren’t encouraged to pursue careers in STEM. But we realize most females view things and problem solve differently then males their age, so they’re an important asset to not only our team but to the technology world. We wanted to have a positive impact on this gender gap, right in our own community, so one of our team members organized and facilitated day-long TechGirlz robotics TechShopz. These classes, which were well attended by local elementary and middle school girls, were held at Lakes Region Community College.
What are we doing in our community, outside of robotics?
As much as we all love robots, our team also inspires students to have noteworthy impact on their communities outside of FIRST robotics. In fact, our desire to help others in unique ways impacts every choice our team makes.
Lupus Walk
One of our team members has a family member with lupus and wanted to host a walk to raise money and awareness for the disease. Our team rallied to support her and her family, and last fall we are very proud to say we hosted New Hampshire’s first Lupus Walk.
Therapeutic Art Kits
Another team member has a friend who has spent years in hospitals, battling cancer and its side effects. Studies show that when people do art they sleep better and have less anxiety. So our team member, Jordyn, and her sisters started taking the therapeutic benefits of art to children's hospitals. When we heard about what they’re doing, our team helped Jordyn assemble art kits for children’s hospital patients. It's such a small thing that surely makes a big difference to many children.
Both of these endeavors—the lupus walk and the delivery of hospital art kits—did nothing to help support our team monetarily, and aren’t directly related to robotics. But we pulled our resources and worked as a team on matters that were important to specific team members because we realize that together, as a team, we can truly have a tremendous impact in our community while genuinely bettering the world, in ways that would be close to impossible for one person to accomplish on their own.
What are our accomplishments within FIRST?
As a team we have accomplished much over the past decade, and we’ve seen our hard work rewarded with some prestigious accomplishments:
Highest Rookie Seed Award (2006)
Celebrates the highest-seeded rookie team at the conclusion of the qualifying rounds.
Granite State Regional Winners (2012)
Celebrates the alliance that wins the regional competition. Our regional win in 2012 advanced our team to international-level competition, in St. Louis, MI.
And we’re really excited about all we’ve won so far this year:
Granite State District Event Winners (2016)
Celebrates the alliance that wins the competition.
Entrepreneurship Award (2016)
We were honored to receive this prestigious award that celebrates our team’s entrepreneurial spirit. This award recognizes a team that has developed the framework for a comprehensive business plan to scope, manage, and achieve team objectives.
Innovation in Control Award (2016)
This great honor celebrates our robot’s innovative control system and our application of control components – electrical, mechanical, or software – to provide unique machine functions.
The awards we’ve won this year have qualified us for the New England District Championship held in Hartford, CT, where we’ll compete against the best teams in New England and hopefully qualify for the World Championship held in St. Louis, MI.
What can you do to help?
Building a robot, registering for events, and traveling to multiple competitions isn’t cheap. Without the generous support from our sponsors, community, and people like you, all of this would be impossible. Without your support we won’t be able to continue teaching our students, inspiring future leaders in engineering, and making a huge impact on our community.
Please consider donating to our robotics team as we continue to encourage kids in STEM, give back to our community, and advance to the New England District Championship. The funds you donate will go towards parts for our robot, travel expenses, and event registration expenses.
Visit our website : team1831.weebly.com
Our team in the news:
http://www.laconiadailysun.com/newsx/local-news/92845-gilford-first-team-wins-district-competition-541-w-cut
http://www.laconiadailysun.com/newsx/local-news/91964-gilford-students-have-fun-building-robots-for-first-competition
For more information about FIRST:
http://www.firstinspires.org
To view this years game challenge:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqOKzoHJDjA
We are currently seeded in 7th position out of 181 New England teams. Last month, we earned FIRST PLACE as the Granite State District Event Winners. This qualified us for the New England District Championship held in Hartford, CT, where we’ll compete against the best teams in New England and hopefully qualify for the World Championship held in St. Louis, MI. But our team funds have been maxed out for the year. Just one competition costs many thousands of dollars in registration fees alone, not even including travel expenses to transport 25 kids (and a 120-pound robot!) to Connecticut and, hopefully, Missouri.
So we desperately need YOUR help! Please consider donating to our small-town team to inspire STEM in amazing ways. And please share this link with your friends and family. Thank you!
Who are we?
We’re 25 kids in a small New England town who are passionate about robotics. We’re FIRST robotics team #1831 the Gilford Screaming Eagles. Every season we’re given a new challenge to solve, and we have 6 weeks to build a 120-lb robot to complete the tasks.
While we love this yearly challenge, we also, as a team, strive to show our communities that technology is fascinating, girls can be proficient engineers, and teamwork is more effective than individual endeavors.
How are we encouraging STEM within our community?Elementary and middle schoolers are the future leaders of FRC, engineering, and the world, so it’s imperative to encourage these young students to fall in love with engineering, technology, and science. We aim to instill and fuel these passions not only within our team, but also within our community.
Parades and Expos
Local children eagerly expect to see our newest robot driving down the streets of our town as part of our Old Home Day parade, because we’ve done so every year of our team’s existence. We also loved demonstrating our FRC robot at the local elementary/middle school, during their STEM Expo, to interact with students and introduce them to FIRST. We generate excitement and have young kids asking how they can some day join our team.
Robotics Camp and FLL
To further share our love for robotics, a member of our team taught Mindstorms at a local, elementary summer camp. We also talked to and met with multiple people in our community to encourage them to start FIRST Lego League (FLL) teams. These teams will introduce younger students to the thrill of programming, problem solving, and effective design strategy. Additionally, we held a conference call with FIRST headquarters about our desire to run our own FLL qualifier in the near future and how we can work with headquarters to make it a reality. One step in that direction was earning 2 scholarships, from FIRST headquarters, for 2 FLL teams to start up. Our team started and coached two new FLL teams one in each of the two towns represented by members of our team: Gilford and Gilmanton. Neither of our towns had previously had an FLL team. One team went on to win a 1st place trophy at their qualifier!
Encouraging Girls to Join the Fun
Since we only have two girls out of 22 students, we see first hand, every meeting, that there’s something missing in the world of robotics and technology, and we want to change that. You see, at a young age, most girls aren’t encouraged to pursue careers in STEM. But we realize most females view things and problem solve differently then males their age, so they’re an important asset to not only our team but to the technology world. We wanted to have a positive impact on this gender gap, right in our own community, so one of our team members organized and facilitated day-long TechGirlz robotics TechShopz. These classes, which were well attended by local elementary and middle school girls, were held at Lakes Region Community College.
What are we doing in our community, outside of robotics?
As much as we all love robots, our team also inspires students to have noteworthy impact on their communities outside of FIRST robotics. In fact, our desire to help others in unique ways impacts every choice our team makes.
Lupus Walk
One of our team members has a family member with lupus and wanted to host a walk to raise money and awareness for the disease. Our team rallied to support her and her family, and last fall we are very proud to say we hosted New Hampshire’s first Lupus Walk.
Therapeutic Art Kits
Another team member has a friend who has spent years in hospitals, battling cancer and its side effects. Studies show that when people do art they sleep better and have less anxiety. So our team member, Jordyn, and her sisters started taking the therapeutic benefits of art to children's hospitals. When we heard about what they’re doing, our team helped Jordyn assemble art kits for children’s hospital patients. It's such a small thing that surely makes a big difference to many children.
Both of these endeavors—the lupus walk and the delivery of hospital art kits—did nothing to help support our team monetarily, and aren’t directly related to robotics. But we pulled our resources and worked as a team on matters that were important to specific team members because we realize that together, as a team, we can truly have a tremendous impact in our community while genuinely bettering the world, in ways that would be close to impossible for one person to accomplish on their own.
What are our accomplishments within FIRST?
As a team we have accomplished much over the past decade, and we’ve seen our hard work rewarded with some prestigious accomplishments:
Highest Rookie Seed Award (2006)
Celebrates the highest-seeded rookie team at the conclusion of the qualifying rounds.
Granite State Regional Winners (2012)
Celebrates the alliance that wins the regional competition. Our regional win in 2012 advanced our team to international-level competition, in St. Louis, MI.
And we’re really excited about all we’ve won so far this year:
Granite State District Event Winners (2016)
Celebrates the alliance that wins the competition.
Entrepreneurship Award (2016)
We were honored to receive this prestigious award that celebrates our team’s entrepreneurial spirit. This award recognizes a team that has developed the framework for a comprehensive business plan to scope, manage, and achieve team objectives.
Innovation in Control Award (2016)
This great honor celebrates our robot’s innovative control system and our application of control components – electrical, mechanical, or software – to provide unique machine functions.
The awards we’ve won this year have qualified us for the New England District Championship held in Hartford, CT, where we’ll compete against the best teams in New England and hopefully qualify for the World Championship held in St. Louis, MI.
What can you do to help?
Building a robot, registering for events, and traveling to multiple competitions isn’t cheap. Without the generous support from our sponsors, community, and people like you, all of this would be impossible. Without your support we won’t be able to continue teaching our students, inspiring future leaders in engineering, and making a huge impact on our community.
Please consider donating to our robotics team as we continue to encourage kids in STEM, give back to our community, and advance to the New England District Championship. The funds you donate will go towards parts for our robot, travel expenses, and event registration expenses.
Visit our website : team1831.weebly.com
Our team in the news:
http://www.laconiadailysun.com/newsx/local-news/92845-gilford-first-team-wins-district-competition-541-w-cut
http://www.laconiadailysun.com/newsx/local-news/91964-gilford-students-have-fun-building-robots-for-first-competition
For more information about FIRST:
http://www.firstinspires.org
To view this years game challenge:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqOKzoHJDjA
Organizer and beneficiary
Gilford Robotics FRC Team 1831
Organizer
Gilford, NH
Jackie Drever
Beneficiary
