Hello Everyone! I can't believe how exciting this is, it's barely 3 days until the 2016 FRC Kickoff! FRC Stronghold already looks like it'll be one awesome game! With all of this in mind, lets start this season off right, and get all of that motivation and excitement pushing us in the right direction. We're 5 year veterans this year folks, lets show this regional what Team Komodo can do! We're going to have our kickoff event at the shop this year, and we'll watch the kickoff vid via simulcast. The stream will start around 8:15, but the main portion will begin at 8:30 this Saturday, January 9th. Please try to be at the shop by then so we can watch the kickoff as a team. I know this is a bit earlier than typical for Saturdays, but I’m sure your enthusiasm for the season will help you get up just a little bit earlier! It is really important that we're all in attendance for the kickoff stream so we can all be on the same page for breaking out into our brainstorming groups to generate concepts. Also, please make sure to keep an eye out for the encrypted game manual. Ashley will try to share a link with everyone when she sees it. Make sure you download the file so we can open it up as soon as the game is revealed. Remember: rules govern everything we do here, so it is crucial to stay abreast of the rules throughout the season! Please also remember to bring a lunch along with your passion and enthusiasm! Finally, to anyone who hasn't signed a copy of the Team Komodo Code of Conduct, we really need that by Saturday. The Code of Conduct details each student's commitment to the team, outlines what the team expects from each student as admirable conduct, and includes FIRST's photo release waiver! If you haven't signed this and turned it in, please click on the button below, download the form from the page it will bring you to, and then print, sign and turn in the form. I hope to see all of you on Saturday!
Thanks, Grayson
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Hello Team 4293!
The start of the 2016 FRC Competition Season is almost here! We've only got a couple of weeks before its go time. To those of you who are currently battling finals, I have nothing but empathy. I wish you the best of luck and I know that you'll kill those tests. A bunch of you took the time out of your busy schedule to help out with the Murdoch's Gift Wrapping Fundraiser on Sunday, and for that I am eternally grateful! As soon as we know the total amount that we raised, you all will be the first to know. If you're looking for a study break, or if you're blissfully done with finals, please head on over to https://my.usfirst.org/stims/Login.aspx and register for the team. If you are a new student, your parent will begin the process. If you are a returning student, please login and update your user profile information to reflect your coming participation in the 2016 season. For parents of both returning and new students, please log onto STIMS and make sure all of your student's information is up to date, and then complete the waiver and apply to the team. This process can be a little complicated, especially if you are unfamiliar with STIMS. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me directly at grayson.gerlich@gmail.com. I will do my best to reply within a few hours, or a day at the latest. Finally, a reminder to get those fundraising letters out! School is gonna be upon us again before you know it, and it'll be a lot easier to get fundraising done while on break. The holidays are a great time for people to donate. It's just before taxes and FAFSA, so a tax deductible donation is precisely what many people are looking for. Again, best of luck to everyone working on finishing up those finals! Happy Holidays to anyone I won't see until 2016! Thanks, Grayson Hello Everyone!
As some of you likely know, Weebly has just updated its API! We are now running this website off of Weebly's new Carbon editor. All of the basic functionality is still here, but you'll be seeing some changes coming as we work implement Weebly's new functions. Here's some of the things that'll show up in the coming weeks:
Thanks, Grayson Hello Everyone!
One of our sponsors, PTC, is offering a team mentor/student training event on November 7th from 9AM - 3PM. PTC will be training FIRST teams on the engineering process utilizing their software packages Creo and Mathcad. This training will be a comprehensive, hands-on training session, tailored for FIRST team members and their mentors. We get Creo's software for free in the Kit of Parts every year, and it is our primary CAD platform. If you are interested in helping the team with CAD, this training is for you! I would suggest downloading Creo and Mathcad before the training, you can find it at: http://www.ptc.com/communities/academic-program/k12/students/first. Lunch will be provided by PTC during the training, but you should still bring a light snack and water to keep you going while you work. You can arrive at the training as early as 8:30, and if you're having any difficulty getting Creo and Mathcad installed you should show up early for help. Arrow Electronics is providing their Englewood facility for the training, and due to their generosity the training is at no cost to FIRST teams students and mentors. The facility is at 7459 South Lima Street, Englewood CO, 80112. Click here to see a map of Arrow's location Please give a big thank you to Arrow Electronics and PTC staff! Team Komodo is very fortunate to have PTC as a sponsor, so thank you PTC! Thanks, Grayson Hello Team Komodo! We have been invited to be exhibitors at the upcoming STEM WARS event at the Douglas County Fairgrounds. The Fairground complex is located on Plum Creek Parkway, one mile east of I-25 and the Plum Creek Exit 181, a map to the fairgrounds will be below. This event is scheduled for Saturday, October 24th and is sponsored by the Douglas County Libraries. The complex is set up to serve 3000, thats right, three thousand visitors. There are just 17 exhibitors for this massive event, and we have the huge privilege to be one of them! We need to be in place by 9:00 am that day, so please come around then to help set up. The event will start at 10:00 am and will run until 3:00 pm. We will be stationed on a corner, near the stage, so students should be able to hear Astronaut Chris Cassidy and Meteorologist Dave Aguilera speak. Food and drink will be provided to all exhibit volunteers, including lunch. We would like all Team Komodo members to wear your team tshirt, if available. If you happen to come in after the event has started at 10, tell the event organizers that you're an exhibitor with Team Komodo so that you don't have to pay the entrance fee. The full promotional flyer is attached at the bottom of this post. The second page of the flyer shows the layout for the event, as well as the other exhibit vendors. The target audience for the event is children between the ages of 6 and 12, the perfect age for our robots to really wow the kids! Additionally, we found out today that Darth Vader has a previous commitment on Saturday. Douglas Country Libraries are desperately seeking a willing Vader replacement. I believe there will be movie tickets provided to the new Darth Vader, plus the gratitude of the Douglas County Libraries. The Darth Vader garb will be provided. Email donna@youngengineers.us if you think this sounds like a job for you! There will not be a team meeting at the shop on the 24th. Thank you to all the mentors and students who have been working to get the robots up and running for the event! Thanks, Grayson Douglas County Fairgrounds: 500 Fairgrounds Road Castle Rock, CO 80104 Promotional Flyer:
Hello everyone! Just to let you all know, we have a fundraiser scheduled at the Parker Orange Leaf on Thursday, October 29, from 4:00 to 8:30. For each person who puts their receipt in a special bucket, Orange Leaf will donate 15% of their meal cost to Team Komodo. Bring your family! Bring your friends! Even if you can’t make it, have people you know come! If we get the word out a bit, we can make this a very successful fundraiser! Plus, who doesn't like fro-yo? Also, as a general reminder to the whole team: the ARC Buck-A-Bag fundraiser is still going! Keep collecting boxes/bags of stuff to give away, and there will be another annoucement when we have a collection day scheduled. If you don’t have much stuff, a great way to get more is to go to garage sales after they’ve finished and ask if you can take some things to donate! Finally, please give a big thank you to Aidan who scheduled this fundraiser and took it upon himself to make sure everyone got word of it. He's been doing an awesome job of organizing fundraising for many seasons now! Thanks, Grayson Orange Leaf Address: 11290 S Twenty Mile Rd., Parker, CO 80134 Hello Everyone!
This is a friendly reminder that we have a team meeting this Saturday, September 26th, from 9am to 1pm. The meeting will be at the shop as usual (directions below), and please make sure to bring your own lunch! I look forward to working with everybody on the penny press and the outreach bot! Thanks, Grayson Shop Address: 8230 N. Cora St., Unit A Louviers, CO 80131 Hello Team 4293! To kick off the fall fundraising effort, I’ve scheduled a team dinner and fundraising night at the South Park Garlic Knot (directions below)! The event is next Thursday, September 10th. Please come and eat dinner with your teammates and mentors any time between 5:30 and 8 pm and receive all you can eat pizza and knots for just $10! When you arrive, tell the folks at the counter that you are there for the fundraiser and they’ll stamp your hand when you pay. Anyone can partake in the buffet to raise money for the team, so please invite friends and family to come along! For every individual that comes and participates in the fundraiser, $5 will be donated to YEA. Make sure not to eat lunch that day because honestly, who would turn down all you can eat pizza and knots? The South Park Garlic Knot is located at: 1621 West Canal Circle Littleton, CO 80120 There is also a map attached to this email.
You can find Garlic Knot online at: http://www.garlicknotpizza.com/colorado/ Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks, Grayson Hello Everyone! We are delighted to be the Lone Tree Brewery's Charity of the month for June. This is LTB's second time hosting the Young Engineers Association and Team Komodo and we are extremely grateful for their generosity. Every Saturday afternoon this month, we'll be at the Lone Tree Brewery with out robot, giving demonstrations and talking about the team. We encourage all team members to invite their friends and family to come to LTB during these times. LTB offers a wide selection of craft brews, and artisan food catered by local food trucks. Their dining room is also kid and dog friendly, with numerous non-alcoholic drink options. I speak from personal experience when I say that their root beer is fantastic. Directions to the Lone Tree Brewery are below, and I hope to see everyone there! Lone Tree Brewery 8200 Park Meadows Dr #8222, Lone Tree, CO 80124 (303) 792-5822 Thanks, Grayson Hello Everyone! Welcome back to some regular FIRST programming after competition is done. It's good to see all of you back! This is a friendly reminder that this Saturday, May 16th, we're having a team picnic and BBQ! The BBQ will be held at the shop from noon to 3pm (directions to the shop are below). If you are a parent, team member, or sponsor, you are welcome to come and have some great food! Aside from great BBQ, there will be robot demonstrations and shop tours available to parents and sponsors who may be unfamiliar with our robot and our facility. If you are a parent who is coming, and you haven't RSVP'd yet, please do so via the following link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1TgQ_NvDxGMJx5UtnI-0WTV7S36b2hT4bIiOqPyliRw4/viewform?usp=send_form Shop Address: 8230 N. Cora St., Unit A Louviers, CO 80131 |
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December 2016
AuthorGrayson Gerlich is a senior on the team and our webmaster. He also manages outreach content and team graphics. |