schools
january21
2016
Loggers Named to
All State Football
FIRST Robotics continued from front page
members from 8 th grade through 12 th grade and
mentors to participate and join their team. Sat-
urday, January 9 marked the beginning of build
season and the kick off challenge was presented.
The LoggerBots are actively working on the de-
sign and construction of this year’s robot.
Under strict rules, limited resources,
and an intense six-week time limit, teams of 20
or more students are challenged to raise funds,
design a team brand, hone teamwork skills,
and build and program industrial-size robots to
play a difficult field game against like-minded
competitors. It’s as close to real-world engineer-
ing as a student can get. Volunteer professional
mentors lend their time and talents to guide each
team. Each season ends with an exciting FIRST
Championship. This year’s championship will
be held at the Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum in
April.
format. Guided by adult coaches and mentors,
students develop STEM skills and practice en-
gineering principles (like keeping an engineer-
ing notebook), while realizing the value of hard
work, innovation, and sharing ideas. The robot
kit is reusable from year-to-year and can be pro-
grammed using a variety of languages.
The kids are responsible for every as-
pect of their program and take much pride in this
fact. Mentors are present to loosely supervise
and give input. This program is almost entirely
student led.
Vernonia’s two FTC teams are part of a
total of 250 across Oregon that compete each year
with a challenge announced
in September. The Verno-
nia teams have been meeting
twice weekly from Septem-
ber through January. They are
Grant Awarded to FIRST Robotics
FRC Team 4127 LoggerBots
FIRST FRC Robotics Team 4127 LoggerBots, was founded in 2012. Though this
is a school sponsored team it is not a school funded team. Every year the team struggles
to raise roughly $10,000 to participate. The cost covers the expense of the kit of parts,
which is the starting blocks of the student designed and built robot and team play events.
This school year the 4127 LoggerBots had many obstacles to overcome. The
primary obstacle was fundraising. This year the team is predominately new student mem-
bers, mentors, volunteers, and main leaders. Due to the change in leadership and timing
of the change, deadlines for many of the usual grants they receive had expired. While
basically starting the year off with a $0 balance in accounts, they were determined to try
to maintain an FRC program for their schools. Many of the parents involved have seen
too much good come from the FIRST experience to allow it to fade away.
For an example, during the last FRC season the LoggerBots had 5 graduating
seniors. Three of these are currently enrolled as college freshmen to become engineers,
and two others are pursuing STEM related fields.
The 4127 LoggerBots compete on equal ground with much larger schools, such
as Glencoe, Catlin Gable, Sunset, and smaller non-school related groups such as 4-H
robotics and smaller private schools. All the while working without facilities, such as a
metal shop of their own and lacking the support and facilities that teams out of town have
the opportunities to utilize such as tech businesses and machine shop businesses that
lend their support by offering spaces and materials for teams to use.
This year the Pacific Northwest Region of FRC has been actively fundraising to
try to bring down the costs by about half, to help teams stay in the program. Even with
this reduction, the LoggerBots had $5,000 to raise in about 90 days to even have a team
this year.
Mentors, volunteers and students went to work by selling popcorn and treats
at the Spirit of Christmas, asked for support and donations through mailings, reached
out to the Vernonia Education Foundation, the Johnson Foundation, Vernonia Schools,
friends, relatives and managed to raise roughly $3,700. With only $1,300 to raise to pay
their remaining portion to afford the kit of parts and game play events, the team applied
for a grant through Daimler Education in Motion. The team’s hopes were to maybe get
accepted to just bridge the gap to have an active team and any additional expenses they
would continue to fundraise.
The LoggerBots were awarded $18,100 from Daimler to not only have a pro-
gram this year and cover all the team’s expenses, but to have a head start on their fund-
raising efforts for next school year.
The Vernonia Loggerbots
FRC is a larger scale robot with a play-
ing field a bit smaller than a football field and a
bit larger than a basketball court. The average
annual cost for the kit of parts and league play is
$10,000. There is typically other expenses such
as build material and practice field elements.
Any and all travel, team t-shirts, snacks, etc.,
is covered by parents and team members. With
fundraising, grant writing, PR and more, men-
tors, volunteers, and students play an important
part in making the program possible year to year.
The LoggerBots are actively working on a busi-
ness plan to help make the program more self-
sustaining.
FTC is a smaller scale robot and can fit
on most table tops. The playing field is roughly
the size of half a basketball court. The average
annual cost for the kit of parts, and league play
is $1,000 per team. There is typically other ex-
penses such as build material and practice field
elements along with travel, team t-shirts, snacks,
etc.
The two teams participating in FTC,
9263 Squirrell?! and 9262 Red Shirts (think
Star Trek) have already completed their league
schedule and competed in the league final on
Sunday, January 17 at Hillsboro High School.
FTC teams (10+ members, grades 6-12)
are challenged to design, build, program, and
operate robots to play a floor game in an alliance
About Daimler Trucks North America- Daimler Trucks North America LLC, headquartered
in Portland, OR., is the leading heavy-duty truck manufacturer in North America. It manu-
factures, sells, and services commercial vehicles under the Freightliner, Western Star,
Detroit, and Thomas Built Buses nameplates. Daimler Trucks North America is a Daimler
company, the world’s leading commercial vehicle manufacturer.
continued on page 16
D
Vernonia
Dental
e rm
an
Small and Large Animals
a member of the Hillsboro
league and attend four events
where they compete against
other robots a minimum of 20
matches. Depending on re-
sults, the teams have the op-
portunity to advance to state,
regional, and national compe-
titions.
The challenge is dif-
ferent every year, and this
year’s challenge, called ResQ,
revolves around mountain
climbing and climber rescue
with obstacles including debris
clearing, zip lines and moun-
tain climbing. “Compared
with previous years, this year’s
challenge makes it harder with
a steeper ramp, higher moun-
tain, and greater risks,” says
Jeff Ely, one of the program’s
mentors. “Numerous robots
have flipped in each league
event we’ve attended.”
This year the robot
control system has been up-
graded to the Android platform
using Java, so the robot carries
DM
Vernonia
Veterinary Clinic
Congratulations to the several members of the Vernonia
Loggers football squad who earned All State Honors following
their very successful 2015 season. Junior Steele Ware was
named Second Team All State at quarterback after running
and throwing for 38 touchdowns. Senior Blade Ware was
named Second Team All State at running back after scoring
30 touchdowns this season. Senior Cody Nelson was named
Second Team All State at offensive line. Junior Brett Elliott
was named Honorable Mention. The Loggers averaged 50.2
points per game this season while going undefeated in league
play,winning the Northwest League title and compiling a 9-1
overall record.
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