WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2018
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A9
EDUCATION
‘EL DUMPSTERBOT’ LIVES!
Students learn programming, building
skills in new Echo robotics program
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
STAFF WRITER
It may be named “El
Dumpsterbot,” but the stu-
dents of Echo School’s
robotics team hoped their
machine would take them in
a different direction.
A group of 22 Echo mid-
dle and high schoolers sent
four teams to a qualifying
event in Hillsboro on Satur-
day, where they competed
for a spot in a state compe-
tition. Though they didn’t
make it to state, their teacher,
Don Walker, said the stu-
dents’ hard work showed
through.
“It was a valiant effort,”
he said. “We had a lot of robot
troubles, probably from the
long bumpy ride. Our teams
ranked 21st, 27th, 28th and
32nd out of 34 teams.”
Walker said the teams
needed to place in the top
17 to move onto state, and
that Helix was the only local
team to move on.
On Thursday, students
worked on some repairs and
updates to their robots.
Students from the “Super
Cougars” team worked on
“El Dumpsterbot,” a robot
designed to push a block
back and forth, and lift a
small garbage can.
The name, however,
stems from somewhere else.
“Originally we had gears,
and we had to cover the gears
up to make sure they weren’t
dangerous,” said Devlyn
Wilson, an eighth-grader.
“So we had cardboard over
it, and it was very messy.”
As they work to finish
up their projects and catch
last-minute issues, the stu-
dents recalled how much
they learned in just one
semester.
“I had a little experience
going in, but not much,” said
Joe Faulkner, a ninth-grader.
He was one of a few that
did, as most of the students
started from scratch.
“They’ve had no experi-
ence with programming or
anything,” said Don Walker,
the group’s advisor. “We start
with going over safety, and
then once we get the chal-
lenges presented to us (for
the competition), we pull the
information we need to pro-
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
Echo freshman Michael Dorn and Elijah Garcila work on a pulley system for a mechanical arm
on their robot Thursday in Hermiston
gram a robot.”
Each group, comprised of
five to six students, built a
robot that can perform some
basic function — lifting or
pushing an object, and mov-
ing back and forth. As some
students worked Thursday
morning on physical issues,
like getting the robot’s arm
to move, others huddled over
computers, making sure the
robot was programmed to do
what it’s supposed to.
“One portion of our com-
petition is autonomous
mode,” said Luis Ibarra, an
eighth-grader. “There’s a
30-second period where the
robot has to move by itself,
and the drivers can’t touch
the controls.”
The students will pro-
gram the robot to perform
some task during that time,
whether moving in a spe-
cific direction or pushing an
object into a certain area.
The competition was
scored based on various
skills.
“It’s based on what the
robot can do to score points,
how well the drivers can
drive, and of course how we
build it to make it work,”
said Charlei Harwood, a
builder and designer.
Each team consisted of
programmers, builders and
drivers, as well as someone
to do outreach and record the
process.
“I take pictures for the
group and work on the engi-
neering notebook,” said
Maddie Owen, an eighth-
grader. “We have to keep
track of what we’re doing
each day.”
Walker, a math teacher at
Echo School, started the pro-
gram this school year when
he moved to the district after
seven years as a teacher in
Stanfield. He still assists
Stanfield with their robotics
teams.
The team went to five
local meets this season, com-
peting against teams from
Umatilla, Stanfield, Pendle-
ton and Helix.
“The majority of them
love it,” Walker said. “Their
biggest challenge is figuring
out ways to think critically
through problems, and figure
stuff out on their own.”
Ninth-grader Joe Faulk-
ner said they had issues to
smooth out before Saturday,
but he was excited to put the
robot into action.
“We’re trying to still get
the arm working,” he said.
“We’re trying to get it to the
right power level, to do what
we need it to do.”
Hermiston chess club teaches strategy as well as social skills
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
STAFF WRITER
A deafening silence set-
tled over the Hermiston High
School library as 20 kids
stared at chess boards, plot-
ting their next moves.
The Region 23/24 chess
tournament drew elementary
schoolers from Heppner, and
middle and high schoolers
from Hermiston — all trying
to qualify for the state tour-
nament. The tournament is
March 9 and 10.
After a high-drama three-
way tie for the top high
school spot, all three stu-
dents will move on to state.
The winners were senior
Gabriel Gomez and sopho-
mores Isaac Bonifer and Jer-
emy Bowden. Each boy won
four of the five matches they
played.
At the middle and ele-
mentary school level, the top
five scorers will attend the
state tournament as a team.
The winners for the middle
school level are Luke Gray,
Zane Herron, Nathan Boo-
her, Dillon Herron and Elijah
Robinson.
The elementary school
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continued from Page A1
Linn has said at several pre-
vious meetings that the pro-
posed schedule would be
disruptive to testing for ele-
mentary school students and
teachers, as well as make it
difficult for teachers who
have children in different
districts.
“Especially at the ele-
mentary school, we feel we
were devalued,” he said.
“The Ed Council never
came back and got feed-
back from teachers. It’s my
impression that they didn’t
intend for things to change.”
Linn said that while the
district said it wanted to
make a decision that was
best for all students, he
didn’t feel that was the case
with this choice.
“We feel this prioritizes
high school sports kids over
academics at the elementary
school level,” he said.
Rocky Heights teacher
Shanna Evans also read a
prepared statement oppos-
ing the schedule change.
Loretta Fitterer, presi-
dent of the Hermiston Asso-
ciation of Teachers, which
designates the Educational
Council in its collective bar-
gaining agreement, spoke in
favor of the calendar change
in her statement to the board.
STAFF PHOTO BY JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
Students from the Heppner Elementary School chess team
were at the Hermiston-hosted chess tournament on Saturday.
Students played to qualify for the state tournament.
winners are Owen Guerra,
Nicholas Wenberg, Claire
Lindsay, Jaime Cavan, and
John Lindsay and Maya
Payne, who tied for the
third-highest score.
As Hermiston High
School sophomores Neveah
Cubbage and Kylie Barker
waited to start their final
round of the day, they
reflected on their games so
far. The biggest challenge,
Cubbage said, is that with a
fairly small group of people,
they have to find new ways to
beat the same opponents.
“If you play a lot of the
same people, they know what
your moves are, and they can
figure out how to beat you,”
Barker said.
But both agreed that their
favorite aspect has been
meeting new people. The
two became friends when
they joined chess club sev-
eral years ago.
Club advisor Delia Fields
said there are anywhere
between 30 and 40 people in
chess club, encompassing all
three secondary schools. The
team practices twice a week,
and students get the chance
to play opponents of vary-
ing skill levels, and get assis-
tance from adult volunteers.
Fields said the chess club
received a boost this year,
when it became an official
“Chess for Success” team.
Joining a group of schools
all over Oregon and one in
Washington, the organization
started in 1992 as a way to
teach chess to at-risk youth,
to help them develop critical
thinking and problem solving
skills.
“It’s allowed us to go
from a small, strong program
to a larger strong program,”
Fields said. “The kids aren’t
hamstrung by registration
fees.”
A group of about 40 ele-
mentary schoolers from Hep-
pner made the trip to Herm-
iston. The only elementary
school in the area with a
Chess for Success program,
students have found a lot
they like about the game.
“I like the ‘touch-move’
rule,” said fifth-grader Jaime
Cavan, noting a rule that if a
player touches a piece, they
have to move that piece.
“Sometimes my opponent
messes up.”
Claire Lindsay, a third
grader, said one of the chal-
lenges has been playing
chess under pressure.
“When I went to state, it
was really hard,” she said.
“I saw that I was going to be
able to get a draw, but I didn’t
win,” she said.
For some students, chess
has quickly become a favor-
ite pastime. Though they
were done competing for
the day, Luke Gray and
Zane Herron, sixth graders
at Armand Larive Middle
School, sat with a chessboard
outside the library and played
a practice game.
Both had won four of their
five tournaments.
“I just love to play chess,”
Gray said.
“It’s a nice, relaxing
game,” Herron said. “It’s a
good way to free your mind
and focus. I believe it makes
you more self-aware.”
Gray has been playing for
several years, and learned
from his father.
“My dad’s a trucker. And
when he was on the road, we
would play online chess on
chess.com,” he said.
MaryAnn Elguezabal, the
Heppner chess coach, said
many of her students come in
with little to no chess expe-
rience. The Chess for Suc-
cess program provides lesson
plans, and she relies on vol-
unteers to help teach.
Both Elguezabal and
Fields said they have seen
changes in their students out-
side of the chess game.
“We’re a safe landing
place,” Fields said. “They
learn social skills, real
thoughtful and purposeful
actions.”
Elguezabal said she has
seen an improvement in
patience and manners from
many students.
“They learn that every-
thing you do has a conse-
quence,” she said. “Once
you’ve moved that chess
piece, it’s moved.”
“But we need to make sure we’re
doing best not just for high school
kids. It’s not just based on sports. It’s
based on how it impacts all kids.”
Karen Sherman, board chair
T UESDAY , F EBRUARY 20 TH • 2018 AT 7:00 P . M .
School board members
said while they knew the
change would make some
upset, they felt they could
not ignore the Educational
Council’s recommendation.
Board member Ginny
Holthus referred to a letter
Linn had sent to the board,
outlining his concerns.
“Regarding the com-
ments on sports — we’re
making the recommendation
based on the fact that they’re
students first,” she said.
“It’s difficult to set aside
the time that the Ed Council
spent,” added board member
Josh Goller.
Board chair Karen Sher-
man acknowledged that
some would be negatively
affected.
“But we need to make
sure we’re doing best not
just for high school kids,”
she said. “It’s not just based
on sports. It’s based on how
it impacts all kids.”
Sherman and Mooney
said that an online survey
was made available to all
district staff members.
Gomolski said he had
heard comments from
many people in the past few
weeks.
“You’re right,” he said to
the teachers present at the
meeting. “It always seems
like we’re doing what’s best
for high school sports kids.
At this point, I don’t feel
comfortable voting for it.”
Linn said he was disap-
pointed with the decision.
“A lot of community
members will be negatively
impacted,” he said. “This is
going to be an every-year
issue. We’ll have to try to
influence the Ed Council
next year.”
The 2018-2019 school
year is now scheduled to
start Aug. 27 and end June
10. Winter break is sched-
uled for Dec. 24 through
Jan. 4, and spring break for
April 1 through 5.
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