The excitement and joy of solving challenging problems was evident as members of the elementary and high school robotics teams shared their experiences with members of Delta Kappa Gamma (DKG) on Thursday, October 20, in the high school library. DKG promotes professional and personal growth of women educators and excellence in education, and this chapter is made up of mainly retired educators from the Whitewater School District. DKG has been a supporter of Ferradermis, the high school FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) team for years, writing grants for the team to purchase a 3D printer and other materials. This year, members of DKG would like to focus their grant writing on our elementary and middle school FIRST LEGO League (FLL) teams.
Presentations began with student representatives from the FLL teams at Washington, Lincoln, and Lakeview Elementary Schools, who shared information about both their robot tasks and their innovation projects. At one point, students carried their LEGO creations around the room to allow DKG members to see them up close. The FLL portion of the presentation concluded with a demonstration of one of their Spike Prime robots completing a mission to turn a wind turbine. FLL has been a part of WUSD for five years in various forms, with the first team being formed at Lincoln Elementary in the fall of 2018 under the guidance of then Ferradermis member Bennett Miles. Since that time, FLL has become part of the Advanced Learner Program in the district for 4th and 5th graders. The Washington teams are led by Val Troxel and Chris Nate, the Lincoln teams are led by Lisa Kaminski, and the Lakeview team operates under the guidance of Sara Brautigam. The team at the middle school this year is operating under the direction of Kerry Ramsden. Ferradermis member Peter Portwine is currently helping mentor the middle school team. The Whitewater teams are all waiting to hear if they will receive an invitation to compete at the Mukwonago Regional on November 19, but they are also planning an in-district competition between the teams.
Ferradermis members Peter Portwine, Maddi LaHaie, and Andrew Zimmermann then provided a brief update on the activities that Ferradermis has been engaged in over the course of the last year, before doing a demonstration of their swerve drive robot, and providing a tour of the new robotics workspace at the high school. Ferradermis is getting ready for one more off-season competition with last season’s game in Tremont, Illinois from November 4-5. They are currently merging the capabilities of the two robots that they built last year to capitalize on the best parts of both robots. The new FRC game for the 2023 season will not be unveiled until January.
If you have any questions about the robotics programs in the district, or if you would like to volunteer as a mentor or help sponsor the teams, please reach out to Laura Masbruch at lmasbruch@wwusd.org. The teams are thankful for all of the support they have received from the community.
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