If any of you are coming to Columbia University or are interested in getting some information regarding Columbia’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, please come by the pit of 395, 2TrainRobotics, in Newton. We’ll be more than happy to answer any of your questions that you might have and give you any of the goodies that we might happen to bring along. Ask for any of the Columbia Mentors, props to you if you can track me down or my clone…
Good luck to you all at Nats.
-Wayne
The following is an article published in the Columbia Spectator written by James Veilkind-Neun regarding our Underground FIRST Program:
While most high school students learn the basics of science and engineering on chalkboards, several students from Morris High School in the South Bronx got to apply their knowledge first hand by designing and building a robot.
The students are all members of Team 395 and participate in a program called FIRST-which is an acronym for “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology”, now in its twelfth year. It was started by Dean Kamen, a prominent, wealthy, and sometimes eccentric inventor of the insulin pump and Segway.
FIRST was founded to do just as its name suggests-get students interested in science and engineering. They run several programs aimed at people of all ages, including a Lego league for middle school students and a robotics competition for high school students.
Being a Mentor
In order to be successful, teams, must develop a system whereby mentors, in this case, students from Columbia guide High School Students through the process. The mentors form an unrecognized, underground student group that work solely because they believe they are making a profound impact on the high school students lives.
The team also receives money and expertise from the Port Authority and McGraw Hill. “We do more than just build a robot,” Gary Israel, who teaches computers and business at Morris High and who started Team 395 five years ago said.
“We get ideas from the kids. From those, we try and purge it into what’s feasible,” he said. Paul Lucien, an engineer from the Port Authority brings the benefit of his experience to the design process.
“As a mentor, the biggest challenge is to make things practical,” he said. “We want them [the students] to learn trial and error, but we can’t kill much time. Once you get them thinking, they’re more open to follow through in design and construction.”
Students are given a kit of parts and a set of rules that outline the basic structure of a game. They then have six weeks to develop and build a robot. But both Israel and Lucien stressed that Team 395 does much more-mentors helped students with their homework, gave SAT advice, and were available for anything that came up.
“We have become a year round program,” Wayne Penn, SEAS '06 said. “We’re mentoring all the time, and we go out on a regular basis to the Carl Sagan Center and Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx.”
Penn participated in FIRST as a high school student in Michigan, and is now an active mentor of Team 395. He recalled the profound impact FIRST had on his own life, and is glad to be participating here.
“FIRST really changed the way I thought,” he said. “It was a different dynamic of team work. Everyone was constantly learning, and it taught me quite a bit about leadership and what that was about.”
But here, the situation is much different than in suburban Michigan. Penn pointed to a difference of goals for the teams. “The inner-city impact here makes far more of a difference,” he said.
And just as it greatly affected his life, students now in the program say it has helped them immeasurably. "
Students gain Unmatched Opportunity
Mark Banks, a senior at Morris High felt the relationships he developed with the mentors was invaluable. “Before, I didn’t know anything about engineering,” he said. “Now, I learned what I want to do my future. I have a friend.”
Isaias Guity, a senior at Morris said that the program changed the way he looks at the world. “Now that I have the hands on experience, it’s not just building-it takes math, it takes science,” he said.
Through FIRST, Banks won a scholarship where he traveled to Antarctica. It was the first time he had left greater New York. “To go from a mega-city to totally vacant is amazing,” he said. He described Antarctica as “beautiful, amazing, and indescribable.”
Both Banks and Guity agreed that the mentors were always there for them. “We got SAT tutoring, they help with my homework,” Banks said. “Anything. They’re open,” Guity echoed.
Second Place and a Prestigious Award
On March 26 and 27, Team 395 traveled to Riverbank State Park to compete in the New York City Regional. They were the runners up, losing to an alliance of teams from Staten Island and Florida.
In spite of this, Team 395 was the recipient of the Chairman’s Award, lauded on FIRST’s website as the organization’s “most prestigious award”.
Penn thought it a fitting tribute to their efforts and meant more to him than winning the competition. “It’s the most rewarding thing we can get,” he said.
“The Chairman’s award is a celebration of what FIRST is about-reaching out into the younger community and really inspiring them,” Penn explained. “It’s nice to be formally recognized for it, but what we do to reach into the community, and what they [the students] get out of that is far more important than any award we can get or than the robot performing stellar.”
Team 395 will compete at the FIRST National competition in Atlanta April 15-17. They will also be in the running for the National Chairman’s award against 25 other exemplary teams. More information about the competition is available online at www.2trainRobotics.com . More mentors are always welcome, and should contact [email protected].
