Food Drive Winners Meet Nemesis
As two classes of 4th grade students of Sharon Elementary School walked into their usually unchanged cafeteria, they were greeted instead by an enthusiastic team of red-clad high school students representing Robbinsville High School’s FIRST Robotics Team FRC 2590 Nemesis, a complex robot, and an interactive humanoid robot. “Seeing the wide smiles and bright eyes of the children when our robot came to life made the long nights in the tech lab worthwhile,” said build team member and junior Charlie D’Amico. The two classes were not just any two classes, but the two classes that donated the most canned goods in Nemesis’ annual food drive in November. Overall, the food drive was a success, with over 3,000 donations collected for the Robbinsville and Allentown Food Pantries in coordination with Sharon Elementary School. While all classes exhibited unprecedented altruism, the class that donated the most non-perishable items, winning the friendly competition instilled at Sharon School, was Ms. Dilts’s 4th grade class, while the class that donated the second-most goods, or the finalists, was Mrs. Berkey’s 4th grade class.
Thus, on January 8, 2016, Ms. Dilts’s and Mrs. Berkey’s classes were treated to a demonstration of Nemesis’ 2012 competition robot, Prince, and its interactive humanoid NAO robot. The visit began with an introduction of the team members and a presentation describing what it’s like to be part of the team, especially during the tense six-week long build season and the ensuing competition season. Then, the classes were split, with one third of the students first receiving a demonstration of Prince and a description of the brainstorming and design processes of the Build Team, another third experiencing an explanation of the importance of coding from the Software Team, and a final third witnessing an entertaining routine featuring “The Macarena” and Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”courtesy of the NAO robot. At each station, the students eagerly asked questions, acquiring an in-depth look into the team.
After the groups rotated through the three stations, a question and answer session highlighting the Marketing Team immediately followed. Members from Nemesis elaborated on the responsibilities of the Marketing Team, including organizing travel, writing and publishing articles, and attaining sponsors to finance the robot.
As senior and Director of Marketing Laura Quon, explained, “Nemesis is more than just building robots, there is another side of the team that is just as important. It’s important that the students understand that the Marketing and Finance Teams are crucial to our success as a whole team.”
Afterwards, the team opened the floor to questions and immediately many students’ hands shot up in the air. After addressing the students’ questions, Nemesis bid farewell to the budding engineers and entrepreneurs of Sharon Elementary School.
Nemesis hopes that this demonstration will spark an interest in STEM that will inspire the students to continue pursuing their passions. “The students of Sharon School did an amazing thing for the community. Being able to give back to them was a truly rewarding experience", said Samantha Young, a senior build team member. Once again, Nemesis would like to thank the students and families of Sharon Elementary School for their generous donations that made the 2015 annual food drive the most successful ever.
