hoodrivernews.com
Wednesday, February 5, 2020 A9
HOOD RIVER NEWS | Hood River, Ore.
FTC:‘They have put in countless hours on their robot and community service’
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of community service,working
with First Lego League, or FLL
and Unified Robotics,” Black-
man said, referring to the ele-
mentary school FLL program
and, new this year, Unified, in
which students with special
needs are guided in robotics
design, construction and oper-
ation by FTC students.
“They have put in countless
hours on their robots and
community service,” Blackman
said.
The team came to Rotary
in its Gorge Fab Lab, a refur-
bished school bus they regu-
larly take to Gorge elementary
schools to help youngsters
learn robotics and other skills.
For Rotary, Steelhead did a
dry run presentation on their
robot and work plan, based on
their engineering notebook.
“These students have done
an amazing job with their note-
book,” Blackman said.
On Feb. 8, the students will
give a 15-minute presentation
and plan on giving a 20-minute
one if they reach Worlds.
E ig ht te a m m e mb e rs
demonstrated what goes into
a remote and manually-oper-
ated series of steps that they
term inverse assembly — that
means rather than simply
stacking blocks, aka “stones,”
they lift the stack and insert
new ones at the bottom.
“A typical method a lot of
teams use is lift a block and put
it on top,” said team member
Cameron Amer. “What we
came up with is inverse assem-
bly, by lifting a block up and
placing another block under-
neath it, we greatly decrease
the amount of time it takes to
put another level on top.”
The teams are tested on their
programming work as well as
operating skills: The key scor-
ing tests are an “autonomous”
period where the programmers
instruct the robot to do tasks,
with no manual control, fol-
lowed by a two-minute manual
period where the team controls
the robot.
LUNCH: American dream takes hard work, perseverance
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Frontera” conversation.
“Everyone has a different
dream, or goal, or aspirations,”
she said as an introduction to
the topic. “Most who cross the
U.S.-Mexico border, or any other
race that crosses over by land or
by sea, they all have a dream and
that’s to give their family a better
life, to flee from violence, to live.”
The American dream can be
achieved by anyone through
hard work because of the U.S.’
free enterprise system that makes
upward mobility possible, she
said, regardless circumstances
such as race and class.
“Financially, you can own
your own business and make
large and small decisions for the
control of your own life,” she said.
But it’s more than that.
“To be safe in our own home,
in our environment, in our com-
munity, not fearing our next door
neighbor or a bomb dropping
in the middle of the night — for
everyone. Not just for one cer-
tain class based on your race or
background … We want to be
able to give our family, or kids, a
better life.”
Her father is an ag worker and
her mother a preschool teacher.
They were able to purchase a
home after 24 years in farmwork-
er housing — not an easy task if
English isn’t your first language,
Contreras said, although they
had help from her sister, who
worked in a real estate office.
“Mom had a Bachelor’s in ed-
ucation when she migrated here,”
Contreras said. “That became
invalid. She had to learn English.
She got her GED and then her
Associate’s. All my life I saw my
mom studying, or she’d take (my
sister and I) to her classes. Edu-
cation was always in the picture.”
Her father took English classes
but didn’t get his GED, “I guess
because after working 10-12
hours in the field, he didn’t
have the energy to study … He’s
60-plus and still working in the
fields. My American dream
would be to have him home
and have the possibility to retire.
Unfortunately, he doesn’t have
insurance or a 401k retirement
plan (as an orchard worker).
“That’s our life. That’s the situ-
ation we live in,” she said.
Though education may be a
dream for some, it may also be
unattainable. Most classes are
held at night, meaning those who
attend must get home from work,
quickly grab their evening meal
and then go to class.
“Your capacity to learn is a
little bit lower when you’re not
fully engaged,” she said. “Not that
people don’t do it. Just that it’s
harder.”
Contreras showed a video of
a female Uber driver who immi-
grated to the United States three
years ago from Peru to chase her
American dream. Now a citizen
and resident of New York, she
works 10-12 hours a day as an
Uber driver — making roughly
$700-$1,000 a week — as one
of two “part time” jobs; she also
works as a housekeeper. What
keeps her motivated is her desire
to provide “a different life” for
her son.
Contreras said that it’s a com-
mon story. “A lot of our families
that I know in Hood River work
two jobs, both the mom and the
dad if it’s a two-parent house-
hold, in order to make a living
in Hood River,” she said. That
means the oldest child in the
household often becomes the
caretaker of any other children.
She showed another video of
a woman who came to the U.S.
from Canada legally with her par-
ents at age 6. She didn’t know her
visa had expired until she was a
senior in high school; her parents
had tried to remain in Ameri-
ca legally, but were ultimately
stalled: A lawyer filed the doc-
uments late, an employer who
needed to sign the paperwork
refused a year into the process,
losing them their legal status.
“When you’re brought here as
children, there is no line, which is
why reform matters to so many
people,” the woman said. “Give
us a chance to get in line.”
Contreras said this too is com-
mon. “One of my close friends
in high school moved back to
Vera Cruz after high school,”
she said. “I didn’t know he was
undocumented until our senior
year. He was one of the smartest,
4.0 all throughout high school,
an amazing person, and he de-
cided it was better to move back
even though his home was here
in Hood River. He’s now getting
his Master’s in Germany and is
doing good, but at the time, it was
devastating. He had dreams of at-
tending a private university here.”
One woman asked why the
United States has to be responsi-
ble for “solving the world’s prob-
lems” by taking immigrants, and
two others offered stories of how
they see the situation through the
lens of compassion. One man
talked about how Americans
need to look at the treatment of
native people in order to come to
truly come to a solution.
One man spoke with help
from a translator about the grat-
itude he feels towards the Hood
River community for helping
him work towards his American
Dream.
The discussion went past the
designated hour, and Library
Assistant Director Arwen Ungar
invited those who were able to
stay and continue.
GENDER AND
IDENTITY
The final Lunch and Learn
event in this series will be held
Thursday, Feb. 6 beginning at 1
p.m. in the library’s downstairs
meeting room. The topic is
“Gender Identity,” hosted by
Columbia Gorge Pride Alliance.
Arwen Ungar, assistant li-
brary director, said the series
will resume in May. Topic sug-
gestions are welcome.
TRASH TALK
Q. Can I recycle my plastic shopping
QA
bags in the blue bin? Dan, Parkdale
A. Dan, Great question. Please don’t put plastic
bags in your recycling. Bags cause major problems with
machinery at the recycling facility in Portland. Good news
though- Return plastic bags and film packaging (if clean
and dry) to your supermarket. That includes bags that cover
produce, bread, paper towels, drycleaning, and case wraps.
questions to:
(541)-506-2636 www.tricountyrecycle.com
$
WIN 1000
K ids &
s
n
e
e
T
AND OTHER CASH BONUSES
57th Annual
Hood River News Subscription Campaign has joined
The Dalles Chronicle for a bigger chance to win!
Kids can sell in both communities!
1 st place
$1000 HOW:
up at Hood River News or The Dalles Chronicle*
2 nd place
$500 1. Sign
Hood River News or The Dalles Chronicle times are: Wed, Feb 19th thru Fri.,Feb 21 until
rd
3 place
$250 5:30p.m. and Sat, Feb 22 from 10-1 p.m. in Hood River and 2-5p.m. in The Dalles.
Runners up(2) $150 2. Call friends & family - and sign them up for a subscription!
811 E. 2ND STREET, THE DALLES, OR 97058
419 STATE STREET, HOOD RIVER OR 97031
Must be ages 10-16. In addition, this year’s contest includes cash awards for top sales performance by the kids to go to their school libraries.
*Sign up at The Hood River News or The Dalles Chronicle starting: Wed, Feb 19th thru Fri., Feb. 21 until 5:30p.m. or Sat., Feb 22 from 10-1 p.m. in Hood River and 2-5p.m. in The Dalles. We will
provide campaign rules and sales books to get your started selling. We will also take your picture for the ad that will appear in the newspaper. If you can’t make it any of those days, bring us a
photo before then or email one to us at tlindsey@hoodrivernews.com. Please be sure to include your name and phone number on the email and put “Kids Campaign” in the subject line. If you have
any other questions call Tanya Lindsey 541-993-9319. Mon-Fri 9a.m.-5p.m. or email tlindsey@hoodrivernews.com.