Coopertition

By Stella E.

Our team displayed coopertition during the season by blogging for our team website. Through our website we shared ideas on how to build the robot, how to make different attachments, how to arrange sensors, core values, project ideas, etc. We invited another team to come to our Puppy Training Boot Camp.

Integration

 By: Lauren K.

To our team integration mean that we apply skills from robotics into everyday life. For example, Stella works in the library. A few days ago there was a girl who was sad and she helped her to be happy. I learned that it is important to respect others and be nice to them, so I have worked hard at being nicer and more respectful to my brother.

Discovery

By Stella E.

Discovery

To me discovery is beginning with the end in mind by focusing and understanding the big rocks to create a plan. Our team used this core value a lot at the beginning of the season. We discovered that communication and leadership are important.  

Puppy Training Boot Camp Project

By Jonathan E. and Donovan B.

For blind people, seeing eye dogs are their eyes to help them do tasks that the rest of us take for granted.  Picking up something that fell on the floor. Avoiding a car about to cross the crosswalk. Not running into aisles and displays in the store. Finding a seat in a restaurant. Finding the door just to walk into a store. Seeing eye dogs are truly a companion in a world of darkness. There are many, many blind people who want and need seeing eye dogs, including those in our community, but cannot get one because there are not enough seeing eye dogs raised each year.

Students from the Bowmar Robotics team worked to help with this problem. They organized a “Puppy Training Boot Camp” to help inform our community about Gallant Hearts, a local non-profit seeing-eye dog training organization. Gallant Hearts raises seeing-eye dogs for the blind, and they provide them free of charge. However, it takes a lot of money to raise and train a seeing-eye dog.  

There are two effective ways our community can help. First, sign up for a corporate donation program such as AmazonSmile and Kroger Community Rewards. These programs do not cost us, the customer, anything, but they are a great source of funds. Second, be a puppy training family. Seeing-eye dogs start out life as puppies in training. Gallant Hearts will pay for their food and veterinarian care. All you need to do as a family is to love and care for the puppy and help socialize them so they get used to going to lots of different environments. After 18 months you have to give up the puppy so that the puppy can be trained and become a seeing-eye dog for a blind person in need.

The Puppy Training Boot Camp was held at PetSense last Saturday. We want to thank Rhonda Henley at PetSense, Becky Floyd of Gallant Hearts, May (Becky’s guide dog), and Lindsey Jordan of Vicksburg Dog Obedience Classes, and all the people who helped to put it on, as well as all of the people who signed up for the community rewards programs.

If you would like to donate, the links for the corporate donation programs are: http://smile.amazon.com/ and  https://www.kroger.com/account/enrollCommunityRewardsNow. You can also donate directly to Gallant Hearts by visiting http://gallanthearts.org/contact-gallant-hearts/. Your support will truly help someone in need.

Gallant Hearts is a non-profit charity that has helped countless blind people have a companion who helps them have a new window into the world we take for granted. Helping Gallant Hearts will help numerous blind people feel and be more able. Please donate today and consider being a puppy training family!

Game Day Checklist

By Aaron B.

Here is my checklist for things to bring to the competition:

• Robot (charge it the night before!)
• Robot charging cord, USB cord
• Attachments
• Cart, if using one
• Core Values Board and any materials
• Project Presentation Materials
• Robot Design Materials
• Buttons or other give-aways
• Buttons or give-aways for judges
• Costume needs
• Extension cords, surge protectors (sometimes the venue has power available, sometime not.)
• Lego building sets (can keep in car if you are feeling confident)
• Drinks/snacks (they'll buy all the sugary stuff, so bring something non-sugary)
• Lunch $
• Camp chairs (at least for adults!)
• Laptop w/ power cord (for last minute tweaking of programs)
• Spare AA batteries w/ battery cover for EV3 (in case something goes really wrong with your battery, which has happened to us before.)
• Team paperwork
• Check for competition fee
• Tote to store jackets, etc., under table
• Signage/decoration for table
• Frisbee/football/etc. to play with at lunch time. Keep in car until lunch.

Puppy Training Boot Camp

By Jonathan E.

Donate to Gallant Hearts

By Jonathan E.

Donate to Gallant Hearts by clicking on this link: Gallant Hearts

You can also donate to Gallant Hearts by signing up to Amazon Smile or Kroger Community. Every time you buy something a small piece of your payment goes to Gallant Hearts AT NO EXTRA COST!!!!! That goes for both programs.

Go to Amazon Smile to sign up.

Go to Kroger Community Rewards to sign up.

You are doing a good thing by donating to Gallant Hearts. You are funding a program that helps disabled people be normal. It will make them so happy. The money helps raise dogs. The dogs then go on to help blind people be happy and normal.

When you sign up to either of the programs, be sure to donate to Gallant Hearts when prompted with a choice to ensure your money makes it to Gallant Hearts.