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Mission Statement |
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| With the support of volunteer mentors who promote gracious professionalism, the mission of McKinley Robotics is to offer members multiple opportunities to enrich their educations through practical applications of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. | ||
McKinley High School Robotics Team Kika Mana #368
2007 Chairman’s Award Application
Given some years to grow now, McKinley High School's Team Kika Mana #368 (TKM.368) has begun to blossom. As we expand opportunities for students and reach out into the community, we are beginning to truly exemplify our team motto "kulia i ka nu'u" - Hawaiian for "strive for excellence."
Our roots began in 1999 when we were introduced to the world of FIRST by Mr. Tom Dyson of the NASA Ames Research Center and Mr. Jason Morrella of the Cheesy-Poofs FIRST Robotics Team #254. Along with two students, their visit was the catalyst for change here at McKinley High School. Prior to their visit, our team competed in a local event known as The Electron Marathon. Our participation in the electric vehicle competition was met with great success for many years and was a valuable learning experience for our students. The time had come, however, to expand those educational opportunities and FIRST was the perfect venue.
Our rookie year was both humbling and awe-inspiring at the same time. Upon arrival at the 2000 Silicon Valley Regional, we were quite overwhelmed and had very few expectations for ourselves. We were just happy to be there and were soaking in all the excitement. Beyond our wildest dreams, our first robotics competition resulted in our finishing as Regional Finalists. Needless to say, we were hooked on FIRST!
TKM.368 has definitely had its growing pains over the past few years. Two years ago, the team was definitely thriving. We were fortunate once again to be Regional Finalists for the 2005 Silicon Valley Regional and blessed enough to be the Chairman's Award recipients there as well. After the 2005 season, however, the dark clouds began setting in. 46% of our 2005 team were seasoned leaders departing as seniors. In addition, our head adviser, Mr. Milton Lau, could only participate in the 2006 season on a limited basis due to family commitments. The prospects for future growth of TKM.368 were beginning to fade.
But not all was lost as hope began sprouting during the 2006 season. Original TKM.368 members Mr. Christopher Orimoto and Ms. Elaine Owens graduated with their Electrical Engineering degrees and returned to the islands. They gladly volunteered to be team mentors. Mr. Osa Tui, who since 2004 had been active with the team in a support role, stepped up and agreed to take on the head adviser responsibilities. Each of them was able to bring new perspectives, experiences, and ideas.
With the additional support, the original focus of inspiring students experienced a tremendous growth spurt. We could now include actual hands on applications of science and technology theories. To accomplish this, we expanded into a year-round activity. In the summer of 2006, a two pronged approach was instituted to actively engage our members. Focus Groups were developed for intensive training in three areas of specialization - graphics, programming, and machining. In this way, students could really begin to understand the finer details and constraints that take place during the FIRST season. To promote camaraderie and involve students in the processes of design, fabrication, testing, and documentation, the team was also divided into four competitive groups.
A game utilizing Vex Robotics Kits was developed by the mentors for these groups and was unveiled at the beginning of the summer. Members were given six weeks to complete their robots and they diligently came in throughout the summer to build them. At the end of July, we were thrilled to have parents, friends, school administrators, and community members as spectators for our first in-house competition known as Vex I - OUTball Blitz. In the style of a true FIRST Robotics Competition, we included random pairings, qualifying and elimination matches, pit areas, specialized awards, and even musical selections played at the FIRST Robotics Competitions. We used this opportunity to also promote FIRST with poster boards, PowerPoint presentations, and a photo slideshow. Our audience included members of the future FRC Team #2090. To help fund these activities, hundreds of handmade ribbon leis were crafted in April and May to sell at high school and college graduations.
With the summer season concluded, TKM.368 swung into its fall season offerings. These offerings included continuing the Focus Groups and a second in-house Vex competition entitled Vex II - In the Zone. We began to hold 'Tuesdays with Alan' afterschool sessions. These were physics and robot design lessons taught by our head engineering mentor Mr. Alan Ing of our sponsor the Hawaiian Electric Company. Preparations for the 2007 FIRST Robotics Competition season had to be undertaken as well. For the first time, we convened a Parent Night and dinner to inform parents of the responsibilities and expectations for their children throughout the season. The added benefit of the evening was that parents took the initiative to network with each other on how they could help support the team. Hundreds of letters seeking donations were mailed out informing our key supporters of the 2007 McKinley High School Robotics Program. To raise additional money, the team engaged in a number of fundraisers such as carwashes and an outdoor rotisserie chicken sale. Fundraising provided students with learning opportunities meant to emphasize the importance of teamwork.
Working with young students is a positive experience because we realize how impressionable children can be. Like seedlings that need nurturing and guidance, we aimed to capture their interest as early as possible. We gladly demonstrated two of our FIRST robots at the 2007 Hawaii FIRST Lego League Tournament in December. Our members enjoyed seeing the fascinated faces of the little ones as they marveled at our robots' capabilities. In addition, we mentored elementary students from neighboring areas through a program known as SPARK (Solving Problems and Reaching for Knowledge). We were able to demonstrate our FIRST and Vex robots and worked with them on building simple robots from a kit.
One of the things we have tried to focus on is open communication. Through a cooperative effort with our McKinley Engineering Academy, we were able to combine our expertise with their funding to obtain a CNC mill. As a result, our machining team is now able to practice building parts in Autodesk Inventor and then creating them with the CNC mill. We have reached out and offered our expertise to startup teams like Team #2090 PETTronics from Punahou Academy located here in Honolulu. We communicate and collaborate with Team #2024 located on the Big Island of Hawaii as well as with veteran Team #359 here on the island of Oahu. In the past, we have also worked with Hawaiian teams #636, #831, #833, #1056 and #1378. In a gesture of aloha, we sent letters in late January of this year to all of the competing teams of the San Jose and San Diego Regionals wishing them luck. We have overhauled our website to be visually appealing, user friendly, and most importantly informative. In these ways, we hope to maintain our image as gracious professionals in our community and beyond.
As the kickoff for this year's game neared, our curiosity was piqued by an article in the January 3, 2007 edition of The Honolulu Advertiser. To our delightful surprise, we read that "(Governor) Lingle to meet with Segway inventor in innovation push." Little did we know what an enormous impact this was about to have for TKM.368 and other local teams. Seeing our Governor speaking at the National Kickoff brought us a great sense of pride. It was pleasing to see that our tiny state in the middle of the Pacific was being given a voice. Representatives from robotics programs throughout the State of Hawaii (including our own Mr. Tui) were invited to meet with the governor on the day of her return. They discussed her vision for the future of Hawaii as she introduced her "Innovation Initiative." This initiative included support for building and expanding the FIRST program in Hawaii. To help garner support, Mr. Tui testified to both House and Senate committees of the Hawaii State Legislature to lobby for these proposals. Members of TKM.368 were honored guests and prominently featured in Governor Lingle's 2007 State of the State Address. At the governor's press conference to announce the "Innovation Initiative," our team was asked to be present to demonstrate our robot. That evening, clips of our demonstration were featured on all the local newscasts. This led to invitations to demonstrate our robot at two early morning news programs broadcast throughout the State. We have also been recently featured in newspaper articles and radio interviews to promote FIRST Robotics throughout the State. We know that this is just the beginning. With the recent announcement of the inaugural Hawaii Regional Competition to be held in 2008, we know that our schedule will be full once the team returns from this year's competitions. In the coming months, it is our goal to work with our partners in government, industry, and education to recruit as many new teams as possible to make the Hawaii Regional a memorable success.
The seeds planted in 1999 are now coming to fruition. Former members have returned and we are spreading the message of FIRST throughout our state. We are proud of the accomplishments we have been able to achieve and eagerly look forward to the challenges we will face in the years to come. We hope that our efforts will result in many more schools with blossoming FIRST Robotics teams in the years to come.