A6 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2017
SCHOOLS
UHS Robotics give back to community Students sell popcorn
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
Staff writer
The Umatilla High
School robotics team re-
ceived their assignment
for the First Robotics
Competition last weekend
— but that’s not the only
thing that’s been keeping
them busy.
The students have
been offering their skills
to school staff and local
businesses to help build
websites and Facebook
pages, and in turn receiv-
ing support from commu-
nity organizations.
“We help local busi-
nesses and organizations
with their business,” said
Cameron Sipe, project
manager of the school’s
robotics team. “We creat-
ed our city council’s web-
site, and the Chamber of
Commerce website.”
Students are required
to contribute 50 hours
of community service in
order to travel with the
team. Their projects have
included developing web-
sites and social media
for local businesses and
community organizations,
including the Umatil-
la Booster Club and the
Umatilla Museum.
They also help citizens,
setting up computer sys-
tems and repairing devices
for them.
“We have people that
bring in small items — a
man brought in a remote
control car that wasn’t
working, and the students
fixed it up,” said Umatilla
School District Superin-
tendent Heidi Sipe.
Sipe said students have
enjoyed getting more in-
volved in the community,
and observing machines
outside the shop. They
visited a local dairy farm,
STAFF PHOTO BY JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
Umatilla robotics students Arrik Russell and Alvin Jaime
work on “Dewey,” the robot they plan to enter in upcoming
competitions.
STAFF PHOTO BY JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
Members of the Umatilla High School robotics team prepare
to test out “Dewey,” the robot the team is building for an
upcoming competition.
which uses robotic milking
machines for its cows.
“It’s good for them to see
robotics in the real world,”
Sipe said.
This Saturday, the stu-
dents honored someone
who’s developed a strong
working relationship with
the team. Dewey Tegland,
owner of the Clean Spot
Car Wash in Umatilla, has
donated a portion of the
funds from his business
to the team each year. As
a thank-you, the team in-
vited Tegland to the shop
and presented him with
an official team T-shirt
— and a more permanent
honor.
“Meet ‘Dewey,’” Cam-
eron Sipe told a surprised
Tegland, who had stopped
by the class so students
could help him develop his
company’s Facebook page.
The students revealed the
robot, named in honor of
Tegland, and showed him
some of the features they’d
been working on. Students
are trying to program the
robot to shoot Wiffle balls
at a target, and then clean
them up. They’ve built a
prototype of the robot, and
will soon start working on
the final project.
“We built it in the off-
season to test code, sensors
— in past years we haven’t
had that, and we wanted to
change that so we can do
better,” said Alvin Jaime,
a senior and the build team
leader. “We’re trying to see
how many we can shoot,
and how high we can shoot
them.”
The machine has a few
issues — that’s why the
students build a prototype
first — such as shooting the
Wiffle balls too high. As
the students stood around
to test the machine, plastic
balls shot out of a cannon
and ricocheted off the shop
classroom’s 15-foot high
ceiling.
Students will travel to
two competitions in March,
in Spokane and Ellensburg,
Washington. If they qualify,
they may be able to attend
a regional competition in
Spokane, and world cham-
pionships in Houston.
to help Humane Society
STAFF PHOTO BY JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
Beau Putnam of Humane Society of Eastern Oregon accepts
a $250 check from Highland Hills Elementary School 5th
graders Megan Joyce and Sam Martin. Students raised the
money through a school-wide fundraiser selling popcorn.
Teen reading
program
includes prizes
The Hermiston Public
Library is providing an
incentive for teens who
read — a chance to win
prizes.
Teenagers who read
books and write three re-
views during the Winter
Reading Program will re-
ceive an entry into a draw-
ing. The books must be
read between Dec. 1 and
March 20.
In addition, there’s a
Teen Book Club meet-
ing Monday, Jan. 23 at 5
p.m. at the library, 235 E.
Gladys Ave., Hermiston.
New York Times Best-
seller “Between Shades
of Gray” by Ruta Sepetys
will be discussed.
All teen activities are
open to those in grades
6-12. For more informa-
tion, call 541-567-2882
or visit www.hermistonli-
brary.us.
HHS alumnus is new math teacher
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
Staff writer
STAFF PHOTO BY TAMMY MALGESINI
Bryce Brock of Sandstone Middle School and Nicole
Torres of Armand Larive Middle School joined Mayor Dave
Drotzmann for the Jan. 12 Hermiston Rotary Club lunch.
Rotary rewards contest
winners with lunch
Hermiston Herald
A pair of middle school
students enjoyed a front and
center table during the recent
Hermiston Rotary Club meet-
ing.
After bringing in the
most food donations for the
Hermiston Police Depart-
ment Christmas Express,
eighth graders Bryce Brock
of Sandstone Middle School
and Nicole Torres of Armand
Larive Middle School were
the guests of honor. Accom-
panied by their principals,
the two students sat at the
table with Mayor Dave Drot-
zmann.
Sandstone principal Lori
Mills called Brock “a rock
star” for his winning effort,
saying he donated more
than a pallet of food. Torres
brought 288 items, many of
which scored extra points
for nutritional value, said Ar-
mand Larive principal Stacie
Roberts.
Ric Sherman, who coordi-
nates the food drive competi-
tion, said the total donations
by Hermiston schools was
15,854 items. Sandstone, he
said, won the middle school
contest with a total of 4,025
items to Armand Larive’s
2,144.
A retired educator, Sher-
man got students at Armand
Larive involved in the food
drive effort in 1979. When
Sandstone opened, he helped
develop the competition be-
tween the schools to help
bring in more food for the
program.
Christmas Express start-
ed 47 years ago when Ken
Hodge, then manager of the
Hermiston Sears, had some
extra toys and called Bob
Shannon, who was the
Hermiston police chief,
asking if he knew of some
needy families they could
be distributed to.
This year’s effort,
which also provided toys
for kids, helped 500 area
families have a brighter
holiday season.
Andy Hall is no strang-
er to the halls of Hermiston
High School, but this year,
he’s seeing them from a
new perspective.
The HHS graduate is
a new math teacher at his
alma mater, and is imple-
menting some new teach-
ing strategies he picked up
from his prior experiences.
“I did all my schooling
at Oregon State,” he said.
“And I spent six years
teaching in Denver.”
Hall recently came back
to Hermiston and bought
a house, and is glad to be
back in his old stomping
grounds. He is impressed
with the students he’s en-
countered so far.
“The student energy and
attitude is way higher than
what I saw in Denver,” he
said. “The instructional
strategies I try here actually
work.”
One of those strategies
Hall has introduced is Math
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Andy Hall, a new math teacher at Hermiston High School,
looks on as a student works out a problem.
360, an instructional con-
cept where whiteboards
are placed all around the
room, and students are up
and moving around to solve
problems.
“It gets them up mov-
ing, and allows me to see
the work being done,” Hall
said. The district recently
installed several white-
boards in Hall’s class, and
is starting to do so in other
rooms.
“This is the first class to
have that done,” he said.
Hall has enjoyed collab-
orating with other teach-
ers, and getting involved
with the school outside of
class — he’s a coach for
the football and wrestling
teams.
As a new teacher at the
school, Hall says the big-
gest challenge is balancing
time in the classroom with
other requirements.
“The district does a lot
of professional develop-
ment for new teachers,
which is good,” he said.
“It’s an opportunity to
share ideas and pick up
new ideas. But we’re out
of the classroom for a lot
of training, so some of the
challenges we face as new
teachers are not being able
to spend as much time as
we’d like with students.”
He added that as a coach,
his work with athletes after
school can limit the number
of hours he has to support
students outside of class.
Hall is excited to be
teaching at Hermiston High
School.
“I hope to be here for a
long time,” he said. “May-
be one day work my way up
to administration and make
changes that way.”
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