Political Activism "Dean's Homework"
 

While browsing the new FIRST website, I came across an article link regarding how the State of Rhode Island is funding FIRST Vex teams for every high school. It appears to be part of their regular academic program. Making it mandatory to have a robotics team at each school just as society requires a sports team at every school.

I have sent the following email to my two US Senators for Texas, my US representative, and a State Senator. Please consider doing the same, especially if you are from TEXAS!:D

email copy below:)

I encourage you to read the following article on how Rhode Island is putting in place a systemic process whereby every high school has a robotics team. If we want to continue to be leaders in technology, shouldn't our school system recognize and celebrate students competing on technology teams! Robotics is a strong draw for student interest and team sports is how we celebrate atheletic ability so a robotics team needs to be part of every school in TEXAS!


http://www.roboticstrends.com/displayarticle972.html



Rhode Island will be the first state in the nation to offer a FIRST program, specifically the FIRST Vex Challenge, in all of Rhode Island's 67 public high schools, charter schools, and career and technical centers. Central to the project objectives are plans to integrate the Vex Challenge into the state's new standards for science, technology, mathematics, and engineering (STEM) education.

Thank you for your time as you consider the possibilities for Texas.

Sincerely,

APS


<Edit> Here is a link to the original press release with more of the details.

http://www.stac.ri.gov/index.php?section=news&item=21#

The program, launched by the Business Innovation Factory, is supported by Governor Donald L. Carcieri and a coalition of education and science and technology advocates, including the Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Governor's PK-16 Council, the Rhode Island Science and Technology Advisory Council, and the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation.

Total costs for the program are estimated at $140,000, which includes funding for a statewide competition beginning in 2007. The coalition will seek support from business and community sponsors and mentorship from the local colleges and universities.

"We cannot afford to fail in preparing our students for the jobs of tomorrow—jobs that will require skills in math, science, and engineering," says Governor Donald L. Carcieri, whose administration fully supports the program. "This program will provide Rhode Island's young people with an extraordinary opportunity to get hands-on, real-world science and engineering experience in a way that brings true excitement to learning. I am pleased to make this program an important part of our plan for educating Rhode Island's next generation of science, technology, and engineering leaders."

Re: Political Activism "Dean's Homework"
 

That is GREAT!!! Kudos to Rhode Island for starting that program, and kudos to you for finding it and taking action to get your state involved. That's truly an excellent idea. If you remember from a while back, (and hopefully you do, because it's still on the portal), Michigan tooks steps as well to get more FRC teams in their state. Hopefully this will lead to more states taking more initiatives. Suffice to say I will be sending an email to my representatives (similar to yours) suggesting this as well for NJ.

Thanks for the heads up, and kudos!

Re: Political Activism "Dean's Homework"
 

That was a great effort which probably was helped along by the Cheifdelphi community. Although there is not immediate $$$ attached to your actions, it is just as important for every FIRST team to send email, faxes, or write letters to their US Congressional members as well as State office holders. I don't know the exact structure for other FIRST nations but teams in other countries competing in FIRST should follow a similar process of contacting local and national leaders.;)

Re: Political Activism "Dean's Homework"
 

We are stuck out here in Arizona. FIRST is still getting a foothold here. We are doing all we can. We host the state tournament for LEGO, going on 4 years now, we just hosted the state's 1st VEX qualifying tournament as well. In addittion to competting in FRC events we are attempting to hold the state's 1st Underwater Robotics event in June. www.h2orobots.org. We were successful at getting audiences with the governor to get her to put after school academic funding in the budget for school to be able to get more FIRST teams out there, but it was defeated in the state government. I guess that is why AZ ranks last in education in the U.S. according to studies that also site funding as the worst in the country. We are going to help get it in the budget proposal again and go lobby for it. We feel like we are definately doing Dean's home work. Wish us luck!!

Re: Political Activism "Dean's Homework"
 

I'll say you are doing Dean's Homework! Kudos to you for getting into the office of the Governor. Is all this work from just your team or is it a coalition of FIRST teams?

APS

Re: Political Activism "Dean's Homework"
 

Here's a lil more on the subject from another THREAD

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...t=Rhode+Island

specifically Kyle Fenton's post...

Re: Political Activism "Dean's Homework"
 

We worked through a state legislature and help to craft the bill. We testified when the bill was in comittee and passed unanimously. When it got to the house floor it was cut out. We are not allowed to testify there. We will help get it introduced again but this time we will lobby all the members and hold pep ralley in from of the state capitol. I think we can get more FIRST teams to particpate in the lobbying. Hopefully we won't have to "carry" the weight ourselves. Our FIRST community is very small in AZ and many teams can barely hang on to just being a team. We need to get stronger and more political as a group. Another highschool in Sierra Vista, Buena H.S. seems to be the next up and coming team to jump in and share in the fight. We are working on getting more teams!!

Re: Political Activism "Dean's Homework"
 

Andrew,
Great thread!
I did the homework assignment that you issued.:)

In central Texas we have teams that are working to hold our ground, to gain ground, to maintain, and to spread FIRST. We'll get there, I have no doubt. Time, patience, program development, working together, learning from the successes of our peers will pull together and we'll get there. Successes in the states of Rhode Island, Michigan, and the hard work and efforts in Arizona will help fuel the growth.
Thanks Andrew,
Jane

Edit: I read 'central Texas' and thought that may be misleading or confusing for those outside of Texas. Central Texas is a term we use here for those that live central. Texas is such a huge state that we define ourselves this way. It is not exclusive by any means, it just helps us all figure out where we are in the state. Weathermen will says things like, "well, here's what's going on here in central Texas," and then they'll tell us what is going on in the Panhandle or out west or over Houston way. When traveling to meet up with teams from Texas, you cover ground and distance.

Re: Political Activism "Dean's Homework"
 

Anytime you need help here in Arizona, don't be afraid to ask. Communication is hard with our teams this spread out (I'm glad to finally see a decent number of Arizona team members here on Chiefdelphi). Alot of us have trouble keeping everything for our teams together, but we can still add a little something to the cause.

And for those who don't know, 842 is the leading team in Arizona as far as FIRST is concerned. Their Chairman's awards really aren't enough of an award for the amount they've done for this state.

I can't wait for the day we finally see that FIRST teams make up the majority of high schools.

Re: Political Activism "Dean's Homework"
 

While this is outstanding progress, and a very noteworthy accomplishment, work is far from over. If you havn't yet talked to your representative (and others), do it! And that means local, state, and national legislature reps, not just the US Congress (yeah, I'm one upping Dean's assignment). Do whatever you can to help advance FIRST in your region.
Luckily for 116 (and thanks to Motorola and Wildstang), we had a chance to speak to several representatives, senators, etc. at the Tap2015 Conference in June (a fair in which dozens of major corporations were showing how they tried to increase America's standing in math, science, technology and engineering by 2015). Motorola was granted extra space, and was kind enough to ask us to join Wildstang's FRC team with some of our Vex material to advertise the potential of Vex.
But I bet someone out there has done something better than that (particularly you NH teams!), so we're not finished, and niether should any other team (and it certainly doesn't seem like anyone is resting). Keep up the work, and keep spreading FIRST.

Re: Political Activism "Dean's Homework"
 

Can you pm or email a draft copy of your bill so that I can start the process of getting someone in the Texas Legislature to sponsor a similar bill. Texas history humor, after six State constitutions and reconstruction battles after the Civil War we don't trust our Legislature enough to meet every year. They operate on the Bienium or every other year for only a 140 days from January - May.

APS

Re: Political Activism "Dean's Homework"
 

Thanks Donut! We want all the AZ teams to get more attention for all they work they do. We need to get more aggressive at getting peoples attention. We need to talk. We need to get the state legislators to meet us at the Arizona Regional! David Lujan is introducing the bill again, this spring. Maybe we can get as many people possible to lobby their representative. Some good news! We finally got the governor to do the opening ceremonies at LEGO after several years of asking! Here is the video clip. see you at the kickoff if not sooner!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...01566756183357

Have fun!

Re: Political Activism "Dean's Homework"
 

I will find a copy and post it here as soon as possible, my co sponsor, teacher has that stuff. stay tuned! here is the media blast from our governors office about the opening ceremonies for LEGO she attended.

http://www.governor.state.az.us/dms/...csAdvisory.pdf

Here is a link to the committe hearing for that bill, with some comments from myself and some of the students
the bill passed out of committee unanomously and died on the floor of the house.
http://www.azleg.gov/FormatDocument....MMERCE.DOC.htm

I will the copy of the bill soon, take care!

Re: Political Activism "Dean's Homework"
 

Here is the link to the bill that was

http://www.azleg.gov/FormatDocument....DCOM%2EDOC.htm

Re: Political Activism "Dean's Homework"
 

Thanks man. I wrote, or rather "e-mailed" my congressman and both senators not that it'll do any good. But I have some hope.

Pavan.

Re: Political Activism "Dean's Homework"
 

Thanks Allan, I knew you would help me out!

Re: Political Activism "Dean's Homework"
 

I'm not really politically savy, but I would think that state congressmen might be more recptive to high school students inviting them to the regional competitions or to speak at a meeting/presentation. I think writng to your representitives may do some real good.

Like fund raising, not much may happen at first. It may not be until they hear about your team or FIRST the third or fourth time that they start to notice.

I think this year we are going to make appointments with our reps and visit them. Cna't hurt.

High School student idea
 

The post by the student from the Robonauts 118 as well as the idea that students should invite elected officials to competitions sparked the following idea in my head.

What if the government class at FIRST schools had a project whereby they wrote letters to their congressmen as a lesson in civic responsibility? I ran this idea by my principal who is a good reality check for me in regards to school protocol. Here is what she said,
This is good advice and causes me to ponder how does one develop a writing prompt such that it does not lead the class to a single point of view or even that they need to have a point of view on a subject?

Here is my first take at such a prompt.

Re: High School student idea
 

I got this message from my Rep. At least I tried, and I will keep talking to my Rep about this to try and get something done.

Re: High School student idea
 

http://www.firstnemo.org/resources.htm
One-pager in NEMO resources on "How To Contact Your Elected Officials"

Re: High School student idea
 

Which rep did that? That is a quick response for a non totally form letter response. Kudos to them!

Wetzel

Re: Political Activism "Dean's Homework"
 

Can people post the letters that they have sent. Im curriuos what all you said and how you said it.

Re: Political Activism "Dean's Homework"
 

Here is my suggestion...
E-mail letters instead of writing them!
When I went to DC this year we got to see all the letters that are sent to my representatives. They were all gross and mangeled becuase of all the sterilizing that needs to be done. My representative said it is best to e-mail him (as well as all of the other representatives) becuase it is easy to read and not all mangeled and cut.
They also reply quicker to e-mail than to handwritten letters.
I got an answer from Senator Obama that I sent for Student Government in around a week or so for my e-mail compared to my three weeks for the letter.

Re: High School student idea
 

I was thinking the same thing when I read Pavan's post - about the quick, positive response he received, and then yesterday (Friday), I received a response from Senator Cornyn.
http://cornyn.senate.gov/

It was supportive and positive. With Kick Off today, I thought maybe I'd wait 'til next week and post in here and suggest what you just did, Wetzel. Thank you for your observations and encouragement!

Re: High School student idea
 

Yes it was positive but in my opinion because he sent me one as well. I think it is a copy and paste because it's topic is mostly Technology Education, but at least that is supporting the idea of FIRST by getting Technology more help.

This is my response.

Re: High School student idea
 

Yup, that was it.
Maybe it is something we can build on.
Thanks for posting the response, Pavan!

Jane

Re: Political Activism "Dean's Homework"
 

Even though I not officially on a team I've sent Howard Coble a email and link to the First website hes been a good friend to NC in the state house.
Don't forget the local levels either. I've a buddy on the country commissioners that I'm meeting with after church tomorrow... got a video tape of todays kick off for him to see. Hope nobody sues me for copyright infringement. :ahh:
Anyhow if the country and give 25k for a pop warner football team I think they might be good for a few bucks.

Re: Political Activism "Dean's Homework"
 

I'd like to be there when someone explains Ramp and Roll to Ted Stevens (R-AK). "You see, Senator, you can think of this game as a series of tubes..."

Re: Political Activism "Dean's Homework"
 

Nice sig. lol

Re: Political Activism "Dean's Homework"
 

My battle plan is, if you hit high, you don't have to hit as many people. Meaning that if we got both senators of Texas to talk in Washington, maybe the other officials in Texas will see and follow along. But someone, whose name I shall not mention, said, "Politicians are a bunch of lazy, greedy fools," and if that is the case they might pay as much attention to anyone but themselves and their peers at that level of government so maybe I will have to talk to all of them in one fashion or another.

Pavan.

Re: Political Activism "Dean's Homework"
 

Hey some good news!
In AZ there is a group that the governor has called the P-20 Council on Education. They meet several times a year to discuss future education in Arizona. We got the council to agree to hold their meeting at the Arizona Regional. Anybody who is anybody in education in AZ will be there, including the Governor!
In addition to this great news, we got the Governor to do the opening ceremonies at the Lego State Tournament this past Dec 9! It feels like we are making headway. Next is to group our AZ teams to pressure the state legislature to start funding after school academic activities, like FIRST teams!
We plan on starting the e-mailing your representative and senators campaign Monday!!

Re: Political Activism "Dean's Homework"
 

http://senate.gov/general/contact_in...nators_cfm.cfm

This site is a great place to contact senators.

Re: Political Activism "Dean's Homework"
 

Here is some interesting information everyone may want to check out and/or forward to your elected officials. In case you didn't know already how extreme the situation was, the most recent PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) data reveals the United States earned BELOW average scores for developed countries in the areas of Mathematics and Problem Solving. The accuracy of the test and the reasons for the low marks by US students can be argued (as they were in one of my classes), but the US does not lie in the top 5, 10, or even 20 of developed countries. These are high school students taking these tests.

http://nces.ed.gov/programs/quarterl..._2.asp#Table_B

The data is from 2003, but this is the most recently posted data from the PISA organization. The article was published December 4th. It's shocking to see how far behind the US is.

Re: Political Activism "Dean's Homework"
 

I was catching up on email and found this.
February 1, 2007

Dear Jane:

Thank you for your communication regarding the successes of the
LASA Robotics Team and for sharing the article about Rhode
Island's efforts to expand science and math education through
robotics. Please let me know of future LASA Robotics events and
successes.

I would also appreciate your thoughts on other issues that may be
considered in Congress. If you have not already, please take a
moment to visit my website at www.house.gov/doggett where you
can complete a survey online.

Please keep me advised of any federal matters on which I may be
of assistance.


Sincerely,
Lloyd

---------------
U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett
201 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
(202) 225-4865, (512) 916-5921
http://www.house.gov/doggett

The team is getting ready to send their homework letter/invitation that Mr. Kamen has requested and I responded to Mr. Doggett to keep a look out for it.:]

Re: Political Activism "Dean's Homework"
 

My senators havent replied to me or anything. :(

I sent it weeks ago. Can't say I didn't try...

Re: Political Activism "Dean's Homework"
 

This is what I'm thinking Andrew -
that what you just said is the whole point. We're trying.
I wrote Mr. Doggett in mid-December as per Mr. Schuetze's request at the beginning of this thread. I just got this email on Feb. 1. I wrote several others as well and and am happy to have one response that mentions our team's name. It makes me think next year will be easier and I'll write even more letters.:) The important thing is that you did your homework with a great attitude and in a timely manner. That's GP right there.

.02
Jane

Re: Political Activism "Dean's Homework"
 

Thanks. But it's still kinda dissapointing. The most I got was simply those automated email responces that anyone can get, and are mostly generic "I get alot of letters, I'll try to get to your in a timely manner" and that load of stuff.

But, what can you do? I guess just try harder next time.

Anyhow, your post did make me feel a bit better, so thanks again.

Re: Political Activism "Dean's Homework"
 

Well, here's some more of what I have been thinking about.
Mr. Doggett asked me to keep him up on the team's successes.

Ok - but what are successes? Are they wins - as in competitions?
Or are they more than that -
a great demonstration to children who have never seen a robot & its group of students who are passionate about robotics -
a fundraiser that involves the whole school community -
a workshop with young children from dire circumstances that are succeeding in being a part of a team effort for 2 hours without having a panic attack or acting out
salvaging your robots from inches of rain in your shop because of a hole in the school's roof during a storm over the weekend
having students at risk graduate and go on to college, majoring in engineering

--
that's what else I'm thinking about and it's probably going to be some of the successes Mr. Doggett and other officials are going to be hearing about.

It's not easy dealing with the reality that others aren't as passionate as we are and that the process may be slower than we want it to be - but it gives me plenty of time to think and prepare...

thank you Andrew - you helped me find words for my thoughts.
Jane

Re: Political Activism "Dean's Homework"
 

No problem. That tends to happen alot. :P

Re: Political Activism "Dean's Homework"
 

LASA Robotics (team 418) had a very unique opportunity yesterday that I would like to share with you all.

The American Youth Policy Forum plans a series of field trips to help state policy leaders learn more about high school redesign. It is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation supports the Honor States Grant Program, an initiative of the National Governors Association (NGA), by providing hands-on professional development activities to governors, their staffs, members of state boards of education, and other education leaders. You can find more about these trips by going to:

http://www.aypf.org/projects/statehsreformtrips.htm

On their most recent scheduled trip the legislators visited Austin, Texas, and came specifically to LBJ High School / LASA. The themes of the visit was to discuss how to best forge public-private partnerships to improve graduation and college-readiness rates, and also about what Texas has done to increase the number of high school graduates with strong backgrounds in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM).

As part of the STEM discussion, the legislators wanted to speak with our team coach, Tony Bertucci, about his nationally recognized robotics curriculum and also about the opportunities and benefits that competitive robotics (FIRST being a strong highlight) brings to a students overall experience. Team 418 treated the legislators to a personalized demonstration of several FIRST robots (from the past 3 years, unfortunately Phunky is still in transit) and spoke with them as a group and individually/personally about their learning experiences in the FIRST program and in their robotics education.

What makes this an even more unique experience for us is that we not only had access to our own Texas state legislators, but we had access to:

Representative Donald Blakey - Delaware
Senator Sharon Weston Broome - Louisiana
Senator Scott P. Brown - Massachusettes
Representative Hollis Downs - Mississippi
Representative Derrick Graham - Kentucky
Representative Mindy Greiling - Minnesota
Representative Scott Hochberg - Texas
Representative Avon R. Honey - Louisiana
Representative Joni Jenkins - Kentucky
Representative Sherra Lane - Mississippi
Representative Carol McFarlane - Minnesota
Senator Yvonne B. Miller - Virginia
Representative David Myers - Mississippi
Representative Dora Olivo - Texas
Representative Alice Hanlon Peisch - Massachusettes
Representative Frank Rasche - Kentucky
Senator Karen Spilka - Massachusettes
Representative Marsha Swails - Minnesota
Senator Jack Westwood - Kentucky
Senator Ken Winters - Kentucky

It was a real treat for us when they told us that they enjoyed our demonstration/presentation much more than anything else on their trip thus far, and after sitting in on their panel discussion about TSTEM and Public-Private partnerships I can certainly relate. :o

Anyway, we're excited that we had the opportunity to reach out to such a diverse group of legislators and could proselytize the FIRST message.

-Danny

Re: Political Activism "Dean's Homework"
 

Andrew, I am just seeing this post. The teams in Maryland and the organizers of the Chesapeake Regional did an A+ job this year with Dean's Homework, so don't think that your letters didn't help. Just to sum up:

Chesapeake Regional
Government Officials in Attendance

(See photo gallery at www.chesapeakefirst.org & Bios of all who spoke at Regional Event attached)

Chuck Campbell Deputy Chief Information Office, Veterans Health Administration, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Jon W. Dudas Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
Dr. Delores Etter Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research,
Development and Acquisition
Margaret A. (Peggy) Focarino Deputy Commissioner for Patent Operations for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
* The Honorable Carlos M. Gutierrez U. S. Secretary of Commerce
Eugene Huang White House Fellow, U. S. Department of Treasury
Dave Lavery Telerobotics Technology Program Manager, Program Executive for Solar System Exploration, NASA headquarters
Dr. Kathie L. Olsen Deputy Director, National Science Foundation (NSF)
B. J. Penn Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Installations and Environment
Terri Prayer Program Development Specialist for the State Office for Career and Technology Education & School-to-Careers for the District of Columbia Public Schools, Washington, D.C.
Honorable John Sarbanes U. S. House of Representatives (MD, 3rd District)
Capt. Rick White U.S. Navy Director Engineering and Weapons Division, USNA
Benjamin Wu Assistant Secretary for the Capital Region, Senior Advisor for Technology Policy for the State of Maryland

In Attendance:
Honorable Curt Anderson House of Delegates, State of Maryland
Kimberly M. Brodie Special Assistant Office of Educational Technology
US Department of Education
Christian Caballero White House Fellow, U S Department of Agriculture
John Calvert, Administrator, Inventors Assistance Program, USPTO
Jason Scott Dean White House Fellow, U S Department of Education
Honorable John Doll Commissioner for Patent Operations, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
Jeffrey William Eggers White House Fellow, National Security Council
Tony Fowler U S Department of Education
Honorable Peter Franchot Comptroller, State of Maryland
Dr. Patrica Gruber Director of Research, Office of Naval Research, U S Department of the Navy
Miguel Damian Howe White House Fellow, Millennium Challenge Corporation
Adam Jacoff NIST Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory
William Jeffrey Director, NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology)
Bedouin Leclerc Joseph White House Fellow, Office of Management and Budget
Kathie Kirik Program Analyst, Office of the Commissioner for Patents, USPTO
Frederick William Kacher White House Fellow, Homeland Security Agency
Westley Watende Moore White House Fellow, U S Department of State
Michael E. Newman, Director Media Relations Public & Business Affairs NIST
Denise Nooe Office of U S Senator Barbara Mikulski
Jocelyn Jones Pickford White House Fellow, U S Internal Revenue Service
George Ruiz White House Fellow, U S Department of Veterans Affairs
Lena Sene White House Fellow U S Department of Housing and Urban Development
Brigid Smith Director of Government, Business & Community Affairs Office of Congressman John Sarbanes, U S House Of Representatives
Mark DuBois Smith White House Fellow NASA
Jeffrey Daniel Stern White House Fellow, U. S. Department of Interior
Mark Vincent Vlasic White House Fellow, Department of Defense
Albert J. Wavering Chief, Intelligent Systems Division, NIST Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory

State of Maryland official acts by the Governor on behalf of FIRST:

1. Team 1719 successfully submitted the proposal:
Governor O'Malley proclaimed Friday, March 16, 2007 as FIRST Robotics Challenge Program Day in Maryland

2. On April 17, 2007
The 350+ mentors in FIRST from Maryland have been selected to receive a "2007 Governor's Volunteer Service Award for Youth."
Successful submission of the proposal (originally was for an individual) by Jenny Beatty.

Attendance by MD Congressional Delegation

Team 1111 invited Congressman Sarbanes and Senator Mikulski to Chesapeake.

Re: Political Activism "Dean's Homework" Post competition
 

What to do now that the Regionals are over and Championship is days away. Follow up with all of your emails. We need to build relationships with our elected officials. What does one say in a follow up email? If you had any positives from your competition or season, tell them about them. Personalize the note a bit. Include a short note about how your team hosted a group of students and teachers from Brazil for two weeks while they were here for the competition.

If you are a team in Texas, send them this very important follow-up: State Senator Leticia Van De Putte has reserved exhibit space in the Basement of the Capitol building Rotunda for the entire week of April 23rd - 27th. This space will be used to highlight the various robotics programs that exist in Texas. Each day a different school(s) and team will demonstrate their robot in this space and be recognized on the Senate floor by their representative. Call, Email, Fax, or send your State Senator and State Representative asking them to stop by and visit with the teams that are there each day. Let them know that this is an opportunity for them to learn a bit more about the competitions and see actual robots without having to leave their offices or the capitol building. They won't have to travel and miss possibly important legislative buisiness to get a taste of what it is we all do.:D The schedule is as follows:
Texas Robot Exposition Schedule of programs

Mon, 4/23 - EARLY & GEAR EISD LBJ and Perales elementary schools
Tue, 4/24 - Botball EISD E. T. Wrenn middle school
Wed, 4/25 - BEST Austin area teams ...
Thu, 4/26 - FIRST Lego League & VEX Austin area teams ...
Fri, 4/27 - FIRST EISD 0499 Toltechs & AISD LASA 0418 Purple Haze

How did this come about and who is organizing it? It was a follow up email that I sent to State Senator Van De Putte last July. Our team first contacted her and other officials in 2005 when we were asking for help with obtaining Texas memorialbilia for the Brazillian teams that we coming to the Lone Star Regional. Our team served as ambassadors to several of the Brazilian and Ecuadorian teams that year.

So keep in contact and keep sending them letters, good will eventually come of these efforts and may take some time to get rolling.:cool:

Re: Political Activism "Dean's Homework"
 

Just this past Thursday team 418 hosted a contingent of approximately ( I have not gotten the final tally) 5 US Senators, 19 US Representative, 2 political analyst and a couple of state education people who came to our school to "see what we do with robotics". I beleive it was time well spent because FIRST has encouraged the members of teams all over the country to expand their thought process to a level that Washington may be beginning to pay attention. Good assignment Dean Kamen! Where do we go from here, I wonder?

Re: Political Activism "Dean's Homework"
 

Has anyone checked out the FIRST Forum lately? We have been slaving away on Dean's homework!
http://forums.usfirst.org/forumdisplay.php?f=294
We still have four more days!!

Also we made up a webpage for all AZ teams to use to help

http://www.phxhs.k12.az.us/education...67&pagecat=298

and

http://www.phxhs.k12.az.us/education...67&pagecat=308
its a big file!! It has the whole US house of Reps!!

Our goal was 4000, I don't know if we can make it.......

We have 15 politicians show up for the AZ regional and we have one AZ Representative attending Atlanta! Rep. Ben Miranda! We wanted more, but oh well, one step at a time!
Take care all!

Re: Political Activism "Dean's Homework"
 

Well I just finished and submitted my home work, and email to DoDDS:
(Could some one PM me the link for home work submittal on FIRSTs website?)
Here's holding my breath. It be a dream of mine if DoDDS picked up FIRST. Frankly I'd be amazed if I actually got a response, but here's hoping!



The Department of Defense Dependents Schools (DODDS)

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E-mail Ms. Ohman at Director.DODDS.Europe@eu.dodea.edu

Frank X. O'Gara
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Bitburg American High School
(My old High School for a year)

Principal: David Carlisle
BitburgHS.Principal@eu.dodea.edu
Assistant Principal: Susan Ransom
Susan.Ransom@eu.dodea.edu

Booster Club
baron_boosters@hotmail.com

School Advisory Committee, SAC
BitburgHighSAC@hotmail.com

To the leadership of the DoDDS,

My name is Jeff Martinez, graduate of Bitburg American Middle School, and now mechanical engineer with Lockheed Martin for the VH-71 Presidential Helicopter. I would like to request a moment of your time to speak freely about a high school educational program that literally changed my life.

For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), is an organization with the goal of encouraging students into engineering fields while changing our culture’s perception of education. Each year FIRST holds a sporting like competition in which high school teams have six weeks to design and build their robots. In the last fifteen years, FIRST Robotics has grown to around thirteen hundred teams with forty regional competitions across the country. To mitigate costs while providing valuable mentors, each high school is typically paired with corporate sponsors such as Delphi Automotive, WPI, Lockheed Martin, Dupont and NASA.

The program provides students with hands on learning with real world engineering experience in one of the fastest paced, intellectually challenging environments imaginable. While the machines may be similar, FIRST Robotics is not the Battle Bots of television that focuses on destruction for entertainment purposes. Instead, FIRST is about building people: students are praised for their accomplishments, cooperation between teams is highly encouraged, and each member tempered by a spirit of Gracious Professionalism because FIRST knows when one succeeds, we all succeed.

It is a simple fact that I would not be where I am if it were not the FIRST Robotics program offered to me while in college. As a mentor of one of the few university based corporate sponsors, Clarkson University, I was given the challenge of educating students, inspiring them into engineering fields, while developing them into model citizens for the twenty-first century. It is my opinion that our students and I learned more about engineering in those first six weeks then four years of college.

FIRST Robotics is a program I am highly active with today nearly seven years later, being one of thousands who typically volunteer over a hundred hours per month. We believe that every American student should be given the opportunity to be involved. To that affect Dean Kamen, inventor of the first insulin pump, Segway Personal Transport, and found of FIRST, has charged teams with the homework assignment of getting government leaders personally involved with the program.

While most are contacting Senators and Governors, I decided to focus my efforts on the system that raised me: the Department of Defense. I am proud to be a brat while performing my duties for future presidents. The United States Air Force gave me incredible opportunities to experience the world while growing my quality as an individual. So now, I wish to return the favor by offering an equally exciting challenge to the next generation of military dependents.

Please review the enclosed program information and consider it for you school districts with a heavy heart and an open mind. Thank you for the honor of your consideration.

With utmost respect,

Jeffrey Adam Martinez
Mechanical Engineer Associate
Team US101 Weight Management
LM Systems Integration – Owego

(Attachments)
My FIRST General Program Proposal
FRC Summary 2005 FIRST pfd
Get Involved Teams 2005 FIRST pfd