What a good guy you are, John! I know these kids will have knowledge and experiences that give them a confidence they'd never have gotten if you hadn't invested in their lives. Thanks. ~Lydia
For the last few years, I spend 8 weeks as an engineering mentor to a team that has entered the BEST (Boosting Engineering Science & Technology) Robotics competition. Last year it was a robot that could hang laundry on the clothes line. Robots built completely from scratch with just some motors, servos, and wireless included.
This year it was picking these blocks and bottles up and dumping them into a box down-ramp. My boys and girl are 7th graders from Richardson West Jr High. They got 7th place against 40 schools which are almost all 11th & 12th graders in Senior High schools. This was the final round ... don't remember the other two players in this match but pictured is one of our "drivers" and Ursiline (all girl high school). BEST started 10 years ago as 6 schools in Texas competed (Texas Instruments engineer's idea). Now BEST has 700 schools participate Nationwide with over 20,000 kids in the competition.
My "out of the box" ... This was the first time I tried out Canon's "Safety Zoom" (less pixels for more zoom) ... I am shooting from the bleachers about 25 meters away. Also picture LOUD ... this basketball gym has 40 schools representation with bands and cheering teams for school spirit to encourage their respective teams. I typically bring ear plugs to the actual competition. John
