The New York State Fair has kicked off again as of Thursday the 27th 2009. Various FIRST teams have and will be running the demonstration table there. The purpose of our visit is to get 4H people involved in the FIRST program since FIRST and 4H both have common goals, to get students involved in science and technology. During each teams stay they will be passing information to 4H leaders and other parents and students about all levels of FIRST (JFLL, FLL, FTC, FRC) and how to form new teams, and what resources are available. For our teams rotation (Team 1511) we had two FRC robots on display in addition to the two Lego robots provided by Team 340 and a FTC robot provided by FIRST. In addition to showing people the robots there was a area setup for smaller children to build things out of Legos and get them and their parents interested.
The FRC teams that will be present at this demo are 340, 145, 694, 2265, 250, 578, 191, 1126, and our team 1511. FTC team TechnoChix and FLL team Girls on the Lego will also be working at the booth.
If anyone is interested in checking out the fair please visit their website at www.nysfair.org.
Thank you to Regional Director Ana Martinez for allowing us to participate in this event and organizing it with the 4H group. Also thanks to Deb Bigelow-Saulsbery from Team 250 for all the informational emails and documentation that she provided to the teams. They helped out greatly in or preparation for the event.
Attached is a press release going into some more detail on the event. I will be posting some pictures when I get the chance. We look forward to next year and hope even more teams will attend.
To go totally off topic, does the New York State Fair still have the unique situation of having a traffic light for a pedestrian crosswalk across an Interstate freeway?
Now to get slightly back on topic, maybe this could be a research project for an FLL team in Smart Move.
The Champion’s Awards FLL Team 2446 from Rochester (Churchville-Chili) was also there to show off their Trophy, their World Festival experiences and the Climate Connections Challenge.
The NYS Fair is truly a great event. It was nice to be part of FIRST’s effort to show off and promote their association with 4-H. We look forward to working with club members in our area.
I do remember seeing that sign on the 690, signal ahead! We exited before that “intersection!”
Those were a couple of busy days for 1511!! We had a lot of traffic through the 4H building (especially during the couple of rainstorms that came through). Plenty of interest, particularly in FLL and JFLL. We handed out LOTS of material. Next time we’ll be sure to have a bunch more of the “how to start a JFLL/FLL team” packets!
It was great to have the Iron Maidens helping us out with the booth. We were able to work in shifts, meaning I got a chance to go check out all the weird breeds of chickens. (Note: do not stick your fingers in the turkey cages - I saw a guy get a nasty peck from an angry turkey!)
If you’re staying in the dorms, I recommend earplugs.
It was a very, very nice setup. Compliments to FIRST for setting it up and 340 for opening up. Fun was had by all and the word of FIRST really did spread like wildfire!
When the lazy photographers on our team post the pictures online, I’ll put up a link to ours. :yikes:
I really enjoyed this event! Sure it was kinda long, but when you got out and explored the fair grounds it was a lot of fun, especially when people eyed our camo pants with eyes the size of marbles >>;; Hahaha!
I hope to go back again next year. =)
I met a lot of really cool people, and hanging with the Iron Maidens was fun, because they think I’m Fun Sized Hahaha.
Recommendation for the dorms: Don’t pick a top bunk. Ever. Haha. With every movement and bounce on your mattress, it slides over. >> So don’t even think to underestimate that it’ll be ok! Cause that’s what I did, and I didn’t get as much sleep as I expected >>;;;; xDDD Also make sure that your dormmates don’t have shaving cream, whipped cream or markers you will be a log once you hit the pillow!
Hahaha.
