Langley Tiger Paws go to FLL DEC 5
Donation protected
This is about an amazing group of Washington, DC Public School students who have just beaten the odds and been selected to go to the State-level FIRST LEGO League Championship in Harrisonburg, VA on 5/6 DECEMBER! I am asking for your help to make sure they go.
We have FIRST LEGO League at Langley Elementary School because of two men who believed that DCPS schools could find kids who wanted to build robots out of LEGOS and who could learn to program the robots to do missions on a competition field. Unfortunately, that visonary team has moved on, but their legacy is solid. This set of students has pulled together and are building skills that are the foundation for a future STEM career. This is all the more noteworthy if you know that there are only 44 students in the 4th and 5th grade and that 30 of them took permission slips. Most were returned, but some moved to other activities and we ended up with 24 students coming after school. We have 17 regulars left and they self selected for 10 to compete when we could not afford a second team. Five of them signed up to work at the tournament and to provide support for the team! Even now, they are helping get things ready for the Championship, knowing that they can't go. I am as proud of them as I am of the competition team.
This is what FLL Team 11518 did on Saturday, 14 November at McKinley Tech HS in Division 1 which is for the younger students. The theme this year is Trash Trek. There are three categories for points - Robot performance, project design and presentation, and core values demonstration. The robot must accomplish certain missions and points are awarded for meeting specific parameters. Each team has three turns to run their robot and the highest score is counted. We scored third in our division by the end of the day. For the presentation, the team identifies a problem and then proposes a solution. Their solution was creative and practical. Core values were solid. Our team's extraordinary news was that the team received a Judges' Award! That is a big deal - it means we did not win any category, but we did have consistently good performance. Bottom line - we were selected to move forward ! We are very pleased and very proud of the students. There is more good news, Walker-Jones Education Campus was selected as well. Their coach is my mentor so we are looking forward to friendly 'coopertition" which is a FIRST term that means competition and cooperation! Given that, as reality sinks in, we have been working together to solve the problem of getting to the Championship. We have joined forces to get transportation and to arrange logistics. We will split a bus and then be responsible for funding our own teams hence the two separate pleas. We love the wonderful words we received from the school system, but neither of our schools has the funds. We had high hopes that Central Office would be able to arrange the bus for us to share, but that may be a bridge too far.
As for the rest, we are in the same position as Walker Jones - we have outstanding parents, too, but providing transportation for three days while missing work is not realistic. We do have a PTA that just started, but we only have a few days to get ready, but that is a lot of brownies for a bake sale.
The state-level competition is 5-6 December in Harrisonburg, VA. That is about 150 miles from here so not practical for round trip driving each day even if we could get enough cars. Regardless, the days start early and run long. Saturday is focused on judging the robot design, the projects, and the core value demonstrations. There are numerous student activities for the team members as well. We will participate as fully as we can. On Sunday, we will be focused on the robot competition and will end with a parade of participants and an awards ceremony.
We have a good deal on the hotel and it includes breakfast. I used my retired military discount to cut the rate. We will need to feed the students five other meals: Friday evening, Saturday lunch and supper, and Sunday lunch and supper. We will carry snacks and drinks as well.
We have been very lucky because VA-DC FLL has paid our registration fee.
So a summary of our expenses as reflected in our goal is that we have put in for a half share on the bus to split with Walker Jones. We expect our hotel expenses to be about $600 a night for two nights. We are aiming to keep our meal expenses to about $50 per person for the whole three days. That accounts for ten children and the two coaches, one computer programmer, one male chaperon, one female chaperon - and if we are lucky, a person who can help them rebuild the robot.
We have certain rules we must follow. FIRST stipulates that at least 2 children, but not more than 4 must be in a room. No adults are in rooms with children unless it is a family unit in which case no other children are allowed in that room. We would love to be able to include one family member per child, but we can't see our way clear to do that. We are holding expenses down instead. For several of our 4 girls and 6 boys, this will be their first time in a hotel away from family.
Our goal also reflects an allowance for snacks - I don't expect children to go hours without eating or drinking, one special team building activity on the way out to the site, and some flashy orange lights to wear in the parade.
Please note that if the city does provide a bus for both of us, we will reflect that in the goal. We are on a very short timeline so would appreciate your immediate consideration. I believe that this is an incredible honor to be selected, but I really want them to go. They need, to compete to see what STEM learning really is about and to expand their viewpoints. We have talked a lot recently at the STEM Summit and in the Chamber of Commerce, here in the city, about how important it is to build a STEM base for our future economy. These children are that base and I believe that what they have done just since September is truly amazing. Please help send them to the State Championships! I will be thankful and so will they.
We have FIRST LEGO League at Langley Elementary School because of two men who believed that DCPS schools could find kids who wanted to build robots out of LEGOS and who could learn to program the robots to do missions on a competition field. Unfortunately, that visonary team has moved on, but their legacy is solid. This set of students has pulled together and are building skills that are the foundation for a future STEM career. This is all the more noteworthy if you know that there are only 44 students in the 4th and 5th grade and that 30 of them took permission slips. Most were returned, but some moved to other activities and we ended up with 24 students coming after school. We have 17 regulars left and they self selected for 10 to compete when we could not afford a second team. Five of them signed up to work at the tournament and to provide support for the team! Even now, they are helping get things ready for the Championship, knowing that they can't go. I am as proud of them as I am of the competition team.
This is what FLL Team 11518 did on Saturday, 14 November at McKinley Tech HS in Division 1 which is for the younger students. The theme this year is Trash Trek. There are three categories for points - Robot performance, project design and presentation, and core values demonstration. The robot must accomplish certain missions and points are awarded for meeting specific parameters. Each team has three turns to run their robot and the highest score is counted. We scored third in our division by the end of the day. For the presentation, the team identifies a problem and then proposes a solution. Their solution was creative and practical. Core values were solid. Our team's extraordinary news was that the team received a Judges' Award! That is a big deal - it means we did not win any category, but we did have consistently good performance. Bottom line - we were selected to move forward ! We are very pleased and very proud of the students. There is more good news, Walker-Jones Education Campus was selected as well. Their coach is my mentor so we are looking forward to friendly 'coopertition" which is a FIRST term that means competition and cooperation! Given that, as reality sinks in, we have been working together to solve the problem of getting to the Championship. We have joined forces to get transportation and to arrange logistics. We will split a bus and then be responsible for funding our own teams hence the two separate pleas. We love the wonderful words we received from the school system, but neither of our schools has the funds. We had high hopes that Central Office would be able to arrange the bus for us to share, but that may be a bridge too far.
As for the rest, we are in the same position as Walker Jones - we have outstanding parents, too, but providing transportation for three days while missing work is not realistic. We do have a PTA that just started, but we only have a few days to get ready, but that is a lot of brownies for a bake sale.
The state-level competition is 5-6 December in Harrisonburg, VA. That is about 150 miles from here so not practical for round trip driving each day even if we could get enough cars. Regardless, the days start early and run long. Saturday is focused on judging the robot design, the projects, and the core value demonstrations. There are numerous student activities for the team members as well. We will participate as fully as we can. On Sunday, we will be focused on the robot competition and will end with a parade of participants and an awards ceremony.
We have a good deal on the hotel and it includes breakfast. I used my retired military discount to cut the rate. We will need to feed the students five other meals: Friday evening, Saturday lunch and supper, and Sunday lunch and supper. We will carry snacks and drinks as well.
We have been very lucky because VA-DC FLL has paid our registration fee.
So a summary of our expenses as reflected in our goal is that we have put in for a half share on the bus to split with Walker Jones. We expect our hotel expenses to be about $600 a night for two nights. We are aiming to keep our meal expenses to about $50 per person for the whole three days. That accounts for ten children and the two coaches, one computer programmer, one male chaperon, one female chaperon - and if we are lucky, a person who can help them rebuild the robot.
We have certain rules we must follow. FIRST stipulates that at least 2 children, but not more than 4 must be in a room. No adults are in rooms with children unless it is a family unit in which case no other children are allowed in that room. We would love to be able to include one family member per child, but we can't see our way clear to do that. We are holding expenses down instead. For several of our 4 girls and 6 boys, this will be their first time in a hotel away from family.
Our goal also reflects an allowance for snacks - I don't expect children to go hours without eating or drinking, one special team building activity on the way out to the site, and some flashy orange lights to wear in the parade.
Please note that if the city does provide a bus for both of us, we will reflect that in the goal. We are on a very short timeline so would appreciate your immediate consideration. I believe that this is an incredible honor to be selected, but I really want them to go. They need, to compete to see what STEM learning really is about and to expand their viewpoints. We have talked a lot recently at the STEM Summit and in the Chamber of Commerce, here in the city, about how important it is to build a STEM base for our future economy. These children are that base and I believe that what they have done just since September is truly amazing. Please help send them to the State Championships! I will be thankful and so will they.
Organizer and beneficiary
Catherine Osman
Organizer
Washington D.C., DC
Jeff Wetzel
Beneficiary
