NOVEMBER 2009

The Robotics Club is growing and growing! We have over 70 paid members now! The time to pay your club dues has passed. But if you would still like to join the team, please speak to our club president, Khalil Rivera. This month we've got big plans and had huge turn-outs at our meetings with just about every member showing up! We've started four FTC teams among our students who have already started working and building their robots with amazing speed!

Like we announced last month, Robo Training has begun. Students must decide upon which aspect of the robot they would like to be working on. Mr. Nunes is teaching electronics and programming skills to students who would like to work on the electrical components of the robot. Mr. Curanovic is going to start teaching students how to work the machines and fabricate metals for use in the frame of our robots. He is also running our driver training program. Driver training is currently held in the cafeteria and the gym where intentional obstacles have been placed to help our potential drivers practice, and eventually to help in our selection.

Three drivers will be selected! So, now is the time to practice with last years robot, Steve, to show him what you have got! Eden Klingenberg is doing a great job helping students prepare for the math section of the SAT! He has also started helping students by donating additional time to tutor his peers in Chemistry! Keep it Up!

Also, just recently the Commissioner of the New York State Board of Education David Steiner and News Channel 12 visited our school. Greatly impressed with our schools programs and the Robotics team, he was amazed to see the dedication and accomplishments of our students. We presented him a demo of our last years robot by driving around while simultaneously collecting and shooting moon rocks. We also showed them the work we were doing to convert Linda to the new system, and explained the difficulties involved. He also got to witness the four FTC teams in action! Before he left, he said, Why are we wasting money making new high schools? We should be making more schools like Saunders.