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Follow on Google News |  The Label Printers Sponsors Geneva High School’s F.I.R.S.T. Robotics TeamGeneva [IL] High School's F.I.R.S.T. Robotics Team, the ROBOVIKES have begun their seventh season of competition.
FIRST explains, “The teams receive a Kit of Parts made up of motors, batteries, a control system, a PC, and a mix of automation components worth tens of thousands of dollars – and only limited instructions. Students have 6 weeks to design, build, program, and test their robots to meet their engineering challenge." That 6 week time frame is a significant commitment, which an experienced Robovikes team understands very well. The team meets on Mondays and Fridays after school for 2 to 3 hours, for about 9 hours on Saturdays, and even more time as the competition nears. RECYCLE RUSH is “a game played by 2 Alliances of 3 robots each. In keeping with the recycling theme of the game, all game pieces used are reusable or recyclable.” This past Saturday found the Robovikes working on assembly of this year’s ‘bot, exercising the “platform” Mary Keyzer, the team coach is a teacher at Geneva H.S. She and other mentors have volunteered countless hours – Kevin Keyzer, Joe Kane, Director of Research and Development at The Label Printers, John Keyzer, Tom Paskiewicz from MayTec, and team dad Jon Snurka, whose son Brad is in his 4th season as a Robovike. Brad Snurka is the only 4-year team member and this year’s team captain, and has really enjoyed being on the team, finding it a great introduction to the STEM disciplines. He said, “It was a good way to combine my programming hobby with building robots. And the scholarships are really great, too.” His job this year is to train other team members how to write code for the robot, and generally provide mentoring and leadership to the team. And he hopes to be the robot “driver” in the competitions this spring. Brad’s career goal is to teach high school physics, and is going to Northern Colorado this fall. Alesa Laserna’s college choice is the Coast Guard Academy, where she wants to major in Biology. Alesa is a cheerleader and a member of the Robovikes. She joined last year to see if she liked it – and found that she loved it. Learning about robotics, building the bot, and the team mentors are prominent in her reasons for loving the team. She says, “It was a way to learn something new and have fun. I like hands-on things, and this program really fits that.” Brandon Elizondo is a senior and 3rd year team member. He’s going to the University of Colorado to student physics, and would like to either be a researcher or professor. He says that the robotics club has allowed him to meet a lot of people, and have a lot of fun. Like Brad, he’s teaching new team members how to program. He says, “We have a solid design, so we should do well at Regionals.” Tom Miller - a senior and 3rd year team member - is a member of the build team. He’s looking at a number of colleges - Vanderbilt and Northwestern are his top choices. Like a number of Robovikes over the years, he enjoys the sciences, but has interests outside of the STEM disciplines – in his case, particularly English. What Tom likes best about the Robovikes is, “We’re all close – kind of a big family.” The team’s web site – Robovikes.com [http://robovikes.com] ROBOVIKE Team Members: Seniors: Jason Belzer, Mitchell Bennett, Michael Bloink, Brandon Elizondo, Zach Gauntt, Alesa Laserna, Jack McCloughan, Tom Miller, Brad Snurka, Rachel Warren Juniors: Wendy Garrett, Jakob Grooten, A. J. Novy, John Zupke Sophomores: Shane Allcroft, Ben Deem, Prem Desai, Noah Legenski, Greg Wendt Freshmen: Danny Atkinson, Ryan Chalmers, Kate Kilmer, Max Winter The Robovikes will be competing at the: Central Illinois Regional at Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois March 18 – 21 Midwest Regional at the UIC Pavilion, Chicago, IL, April 1 – 4 About THE LABEL PRINTERS: The Label Printers, Aurora, IL, started in business in 1967, manufacturing simple label constructions in a 1,000 square foot space, with 1 employee, serving the local Chicago market. Today, the company has evolved into one of the 100 largest converters in the United States. The Label Printers owns and operates 2 facilities in Aurora, IL, manufacturing and distributing labels and packaging products to thousands of customers in 25 countries around the world. The company’s quality systems are registered to ISO 9001 and are backed up by their 99.6% Quality Acceptance Rating. About Geneva High School (Community Unit School District 304) Geneva Community High School is over 130 years old and has over 1,800 students, 150 faculty members, and offers more than 150 courses in eleven academic areas. Students may also enroll in one of 37 academic courses in the Fox Valley Career Center curriculum. Advanced placement and honors courses are offered in all academic areas supported by the expansion of our Acceleration and Enrichment program. About FIRST and the FIRST Robotics Competition: The FIRST Robotics Competition is an annual competition that helps students discover the excitement of science, engineering, and technology and the rewards a career in STEM can bring. "The Varsity Sport for the Mind," FRC combines the excitement of sport with the rigors of science and technology. Under strict rules, limited resources, and time limits, teams are challenged to raise funds, design a team "brand," hone teamwork skills, and build and program robots to perform prescribed tasks against a field of competitors. Volunteer professional mentors lend their time and talents to guide each team. Students get to: Build and compete with a robot of their own design Learn and use sophisticated software and hardware Compete and cooperate in alliances and tournaments Qualify for over $19 million in college scholarships Dean Kamen founded FIRST (http://www.usfirst.org/ End
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