[Jon236]

The key element in getting support from your school is getting your superintendant involved. I include her letter to Secretary Duncan that speaks eloquently for itself how well we 'infected' her!

It doesn't hurt to get team mentors elected to the school board as well. Our Treasurer (my wife, Nanette Salvino) has been involved with the team nearly from it's inception. At one point, fully a third of our Board of Education were FIRST parents!

And while we didn't get everything we wanted in the school renovation, we did get land allocated next to the shops where we will build out our own storage facility. The Old Lyme Chamber of Commerce has told us they would like to help fund this effort.

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May 11, 2009

Mr. Arne Duncan
U.S. Secretary of Education
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue, S.W.
Washington, DC 20202

Dear Secretary Duncan:

As a career long educator, I naturally find joy in the accomplishments of young people. I’ve enjoyed seeing the success of students in rigorous academic measures, artistic displays, dramatic and musical performances, and in athletic competitions. And while I thought that I had experienced a comprehensive sampling of student success, it wasn’t until this past year that I realized that I had been missing a significant and magnificent experience. For it was in this past year that I became well acquainted with the FIRST program as the new superintendent in Region 18.

At first blush, I saw a robotics competition. I was pleased by this opportunity to engage students in extended activity in science and technology. What an understatement my first understandings were! FIRST is as much about cooperative problem solving and humanity as it is about science and technology. It is about the excitement and development of potential in a network of willing and able minds. I saw it in the students and their mentors both within our district and beyond.

Our local FIRST team, known as the Techno-Ticks—team 236, is a fellowship that has been gaining momentum for many years. They have made it their business to pollinate their enthusiasm among others both within and beyond the community. Their cumulative efforts earned them the coveted 2009 Chairman’s Award from FIRST. We are very proud of this distinction in a national field of 1700 teams.

I share these thoughts with you as an example of a program that meets your goals to have children spend more time in meaningful ways at their schools. It is refreshing to see groups such as this in our school building in the evenings and on the weekends, with students working side by side with educators, business leaders and engineering professionals. The project has enabled the school itself to become a magnet across the greater community for those who wish to help students learn how to invent, create and build solutions to challenging problems.



I am certain that you join me in saluting this very special accomplishment. I trust that you take pride in this mighty team from a little district in a little state. I would be proud and honored to support appropriate recognition. I ask that you consider how you might be able to promote a fitting event to recognize these students.

Thank you for supporting science and technology and, most of all, bright and eager young citizens!

Sincerely,



Elizabeth M. Osga Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools