Team History
In 1999, Mr. Jason Morrella, advisor for Team #254 Cheesy-Poofs, and Mr. Tom Dyson from NASA Ames Research Center, together with two students from Broadway High School came to McKinley High School. They shared and demonstrated their robot that won the Silicon Valley Regional Robotic Competition. This was our first introduction into the exciting world of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology).
This arrangement for the Cheesy-Poofs visit was made possible by the influence of Mr. Art Kimura. Mr. Kimura was a former McKinley High School science teacher and a candidate for the first "Teacher in Space" program. He founded and currently runs the Hawaii Future Flight program that encourages young students to pursue careers in science, space, and technology.
To make a long story short, Mr. Kimura dined with Mr. Mark Leon, the NASA Ames Director of Education, at a neighbor island space related conference. Mr. Leon shared with Mr. Kimura that NASA was introducing the FIRST program to Hawaii beginning with the sponsorship of one team. Waialua High School was the first Hawaiian team chosen. They were designated as Team #359. Mr. Kimura then inquired if there was funding for an additional school. With a little persuasion, Mr. Leon approved another grant for Hawaii's public school system. Not knowing about Mr. Kimura's actions McKinley was assigned Team #368. Mr. Leon then flew members of Team #254, Cheesy-Poofs, to visit McKinley High School in Honolulu, Hawaii. McKinley Electric Vehicle Team recently competed in their fourth Electron Marathon. After the Cheesy-Poofs' presentation, McKinley had decided that this would be their final year participating in the electric vehicle competition.
Under the direction of electronics instructor, Milton Lau, McKinley successfully won three out of four state Electron Marathon competitions. The Electron Marathon is an electric vehicle competition where students commit themselves to a problem solving activity. Students build and race a car of their own design. In addition to building this vehicle, students were required to provide written documentation, to give an oral presentation, and to participate in an hour long vehicle endurance race.
Upon retiring from the Electron Marathon Competition, McKinley donated their winning electric vehicle to Hawaiian Electric Company, the major sponsor of the Electron Marathon, with the intent that the vehicle be used as an engineering platform for neophyte schools. The experience gained by the members of the McKinley team encouraged their interest in the field of engineering as many continued their post secondary education at MIT, Carnegie Mellon, and UCLA.
It was the end of an era, but the beginning of a new challenge. FIRST could not have had come at a better time for McKinley High School. This new engineering project had unlimited potential. McKinley accepted this challenge whole-heartedly with the traditional McKinley determination, commitment and Tiger Pride.
Our epic story is still being written...