BY KAREY ROBINSON

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Up-A-Creek Robotics Ready For Annual Competition

The Up-A-Creek Robotics team will compete in the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition April 7-9 at the Daniel L. Ritchie Center on the D.U. campus in Denver. The FRC pairs high school students with adult mentors to design and build robots that compete against one another in this high energy “varsity sport for the mind.”

John Rigsby, Senior Staff Engineer at Seagate Technology in Longmont, serves as the team’s Lead Mentor. “Helping the students learn and grow their technical and life skills is an amazing experience to be a part of,” he said. “I am grateful for the passion and effort the mentors put into the program, as they create a unique environment for the students to discover and pursue their future goals.”

The Up-A-Creek team is fortunate to have a large number of adult mentors in various fields of expertise. “Our mentor talents include Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Public Relations, Spirit and Marketing,” said Rigsby. “This program is certainly an investment, and our sponsors have been instrumental to our team’s continued success.”

Photo Courtesy of John Rigsby

Up-A-Creek Robotics team members Kat Wicklund and Kelsey Christofferson

of Silver Creek make adjustments to the electrical panel for their robot

in preparation for this year's FIRST Robotics Competition.

The team also considers itself fortunate to have access to the St. Vrain Valley School District’s Career Development Center, where a wide array of resources and tools are a key part of the students’ technical development activities.

In January, at the FRC Kickoff, teams from around the region were shown the “Logo Motion” playing field and received a kit of parts made up of motors, batteries, a control system, a PC and a mix of automation components – but no instructions. Working with mentors, students had six weeks to design, build, program and test their robots to meet the season’s engineering challenge.

In the “Logo Motion” robotics game, two alliances of three teams will compete on a 27-by-54-foot field with poles, attempting to earn points by hanging as many triangle, circle and square logo pieces as possible. Bonus points will be earned for each robot that can hang and assemble logo pieces to form the FIRST logo. Robots can also deploy Mini-Bots to climb vertical poles for a chance to earn additional points.

With this year’s robot completed and shipped, Rigsby feels optimistic about the team’s chances in the competition. “We have a great group of students, and their impressive accomplishments are testaments to their dedication and eagerness to learn and grow.”

Seagate Technology is the team’s main sponsor. Other sponsors are the St. Vrain Valley School District, Longmont Breakfast Optimist Club, JBJ Precision Industries and Instant Imprints.

For more information about Robotics or anyone interested in mentoring or sponsoring the team, you may contact them at www.team1619.org.

Oz Coming To Creek

The Performing Arts Department will present The Wizard of Oz on April 14-16 at 7 p.m., and April 17 at 2 p.m. A unique feature of this year’s production is that it will include local elementary school students as Munchkins.

This is Director Les Dweir’s first musical production at Silver Creek, although he is no stranger to the school as he was instrumental in last year’s successful production of Into the Woods. Dweir also has extensive theater experience and has been involved in Broadway productions.