Reminder: Meeting on 8/30/11 at 6:00pm

Just a reminder, tomorrow (Tuesday, 8/30/2011) there will be the first meeting of the 2011-2012 year for RAVEN Robotics starting at 6:00pm and ending at 8:00pm.

Here is the agenda for first meeting of the year:

Wednesday August 30, 2011

Francis Howell Central High School

6:00 pm to 8:00 pm

• Welcome to New Members
• Opening Remarks from School Sponsors: Mark Krueger Brian Stemmermann
  • Club Parameters
  • Year’s Goals
  • Budget Information
    • Expectation for Members
    • Participate in fund raiser / pay dues
    • Active participation in chosen activity with good attendance
    • Be helpful, kind, and encouraging to all members as they go about their tasks.
  • Comments from Mentors
  • Fund Raiser Discussion and Information
  • President Takes Over the Meeting
  • Adjourn at 8:00 pm

Hope to see everyone and their parents there!

For New or Interested Students...

If you are a new high school freshman (or any student really) in the Francis Howell School District and are interested in joining the district's robotics club, you've come to the right place! You can browse around this site and see what is up with us, but here is a fast track to the important information you probably want:

• The About RAVEN Robotics page contains everything about this club specifically. We are a team that competes in About FIRST competitions.
• The first meeting is scheduled for 6:00pm to 8:00pm on August 30th at Francis Howell Central High School in Room 13, to give you some extra time to settle into High School. Your parents are encouraged to come to this meeting to learn about the club. Parents can even volunteer to help the club too!
• At the first meeting calendars detailing our future meetings will be distrusted to students and their parents (so bring them!) and you will get more information on why this team is so awesome.
• We meet about twice a month during the fall semester (now until you're winter break starts). During this time we will go over many different aspects of robotics and the engineering and science behind bringing a robot to life!
• Once you get back from your winter break things kick into high gear and the build season for the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) starts. It is 6 weeks of non-stop fun. During this time we meet generally 3 times a week (Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturdays). No one is expected to make it every day continuously, but try to be there about once a week at the least.
• We do more than just build robots, we do everything a small technology company might do including:
  • Building websites and web services (this this thing you are on now!)
  • Programming and Computer Engineering
  • Game Strategy and Design
  • Promotion, Journalism, and Fundraising
  • Video Recording and Editing
  • Photography and Photo Editing
  • Tons of engineering related things (Electrical, Mechanical, Structural, etc...)
  • Working with Teachers and Industry Professionals (Many of whom work at Boeing)
  • Having fun and making some great friends
  • Really any talent is a great asset to our team, so don't be shy!

Feel free to look around this website if these highlights didn't answer all your questions. Also, don't hesitate to ask us. You can email the school sponsor Mark Krueger  at: JLIB_HTML_CLOAKING

We hope to see you at our first meeting!

Update 2: First meeting finalized for 6:00pm instead of 6:30pm.

Recruiting Meeting on Wednesday Night

Greetings to everyone!

Hope everyone is able to stay cool. And school is starting August 8th!  On Thursday, August 4th, all three high schools are having information times for clubs, sports and organizations for the incoming Freshmen. Here are the times we would have to promote Robotics:

• FHN  11:20 to 12:05
• FHC  12:40 to 1:00
• FHHS  11:40 to 12:20

It is important that we have a presence at each school.  We have done this in past and have recruited several students that have been with us for all four years!

Because of this there is a meeting at Francis Howell Central High School on Wednesday Evening at 7:00 PM to organize who is going where and to get robots and other materials ready for the freshman. Dave Harmon and his sons have already said they are taking a robot to North, Mark Krueger can handle FHC, so we really need a group at FHHS. (of course we need others at both north and FHC too).

Mark Krueger will have copies of the video to be shown on the laptops.  We still have some promotional items left from the competitions.

The most important information we need is an email address of an interested student. We can then send them videos, and other information to get them interested in our program. I am planning a schedule much like last year. Our first meeting will be the last week in August.

When we talk with these students we need to explain how this program really goes into high gear from January through February, with competitions in March and April.

Right now Mark Krueger has another obligation for Wednesday night. If Brian Stemmermann cannot make it, Mark Krueger will definitely be there, If he can make it.

It should be a great year! We are a team that continues to improve itself every year, and so let's not let that change!

Hope to see everyone that can make it on Wednesday. The meeting should last no longer than one hour. (students if you are being dropped off, have pickup rides at 8:00pm)

Need to Know: St. Louis Regional 2011

Tomorrow is the start of the St. Louis Regional FIRST Robotics Competition. If you didn't know this is the event that we spent the last 6 weeks going crazy over building the robot and getting everything ready. If you are curious about everything that is going to happen everything you need to know is after the break.

Read more: Need to Know: St. Louis Regional 2011

RAVEN Robotics After Party 2011

Max Mulholland, the current student president, has graciously offered to host this year's after party.

See him in person for details.

For those of you new on the team the after party is a tradition someone normally holds after each year's St. Louis Regional Competition to celebrate the fun we had.

Important Urgant FOX 2 9am Show Rescheduled!

Our scheduled appearance on television for the early show has been changed from the nine o'clock show to the eight o'clock show!

We need to move up our arrival at the station from 8:30am to 7:30am.

If you are to be picked up at Francis Howell Central that pickup time is now 6:45 am. We will be leaving promptly at that time!

Email Mr. Krueger ( JLIB_HTML_CLOAKING ) to confirm you can make the changes ASAP. Call him at 314.306.7147 if you are not going to be able to make this change.

The afternoon show has no change in time.

Thanks River City Robotics for the cRIO

RAVEN Robotics would like to thank River City Robotics Team 1094, for their gracious professionalism in suppling us with a cRIO to borrow after we learned yesterday that our cRIO for this year's robot was broke. Without them we would be dead in the water until we recieved our replacement cRIO.

One again, thanks River City Robotics Team 1094 you exemplify FIRST's ideals.

Meeting Cancellation for 2/3/11 due to Weather

Here is the schedule for the rest of this week since school is cancelled for today, Thursday, February 3 (changes in bold):

• Saturday (2/5/11) from 8:00am to 3:00pm
• Sunday  (2/6/11) from 1:00pm to 4:00pm (make up day for Tuesday)

Next week  weekday schedule:

• Tuesday (2/8/11) from 5:30pm - 8:30pm
• Wednesday (2/9/11) from 5:30pm - 8:30pm (make up day for today)
• Thursday (2/10/11) from 5:30pm - 8:30pm

Meeting Cancellation for 2/1/11 due to Weather

The weather is not on our side this year. School has been canceled tomorrow (2/1/11) and may be canceled Wednesday as well. We talked about this possibility on Saturday, so here is the plan as of Today: Hopefully things will be back to normal for our Meeting on Thursday 5:30 -8:30. We will meet Saturday 8:00 to 3:00pm as planned. We will make up Tuesday on Sunday (2/5/11) from 1:00 to 4:00. We will not have to clean up on Saturday and get everything out on Sunday so that should save us an about an hour. Sunday is super bowl Sunday, but the game doesn't start till 5:30 and you should all be home in front of your big screens in plenty of time! Stay safe and warm.

Rules Update Reminder

Just a reminder that FIRST has been updating the rules: http://bit.ly/h7Ss1A