Update #4 (Week of September 30)

It’s been an exciting week! On Wednesday, we formally welcomed our rookies, and we began our training on Saturday. Here's what we've been up to!

What’s our outreach schedule?

    We had a quick lunch meeting on Wednesday to brief some of our rookies before their first meeting Wednesday evening. As for the rest of the month, we’ve got a couple of events coming up. First, on Tuesday October 22, we have 8th Grade Parent Info Night. We’ll need 3-5 volunteers to drive the robot around and answer any questions parents might have. Then, we’ve got Trick or Treat Street on October 30. 3-4 volunteers will get to pass out candy to kids from the community. Please sign up here!

What did we accomplish this week?

    So many things! Our rookie welcome potluck on Wednesday was great-- thanks to everyone who brought food! There were about 25 rookies, and after feeding them, we introduced our rookie game and split them into groups to begin prototyping. They worked on brainstorming ideas, and they’re doing a great job! On Saturday, they continued to develop the ideas that they brainstormed before completing their first subteam training rotation. Our veterans did a great job leading their trainings-- special thanks to Dylan for filling in for our mechanical rotation while Sage and Avani finished up their SAT and ACT!

What’s the plan for next week?

    We’re going to continue our rotations. We have four rotations to go, so we’ll keep working on foundational training and prototyping so that our rookies are ready to build when the time comes. Each subteam has organized a basic training program that they teach to one group of rookies at a time. Our CAD leads are having rookies learn to CAD basic parts and make drawings. Our mechanical leads have designed a training part which involves all of the machines in our shop. Our programming leads have created tutorials involving drive code for our 2019 robot, and our electronics leads are having the rookies wire the chassis for the rookie game. The business team is leading a prototyping rotation to help keep our rookies thinking about the designs they want to build. Each group learns from one subteam each meeting so that they have the foundation they’ll need when they start their bots.

To learn about the Rookie Game, our goals for the fall season and more, check out our past posts!

We'll be back next week with another update-- have a great week!