Our teams pride ourselves on our extensive involvement in our community.
Youth and Education
Professional
Community Events
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Guanyi Fencing Academy
Feb. 2019 - Team Exponential visited Guanyi Fencing Academy, where the kids were eagerly anticipating the arrival of the robot. We previously observed a rise in interest in our FTC program, and seeing as these students had heard of our team, we prepared our presentation of the components of our robot to correspond with the kids’ interests. We presented our 3D printed parts to educate them on the advancements of modern technology and our use of mathematics in our programming to explain the complexity of real-world programming. We understand the kids’ value in hard work, but we also understood their need to still be kids and have fun, so we allowed them to also drive our robot and complete small challenges we had provided. We left the building knowing many of the kids had a fun time learning and interacting with robotics after a hard 3 hours of practice.
Mentoring FLL Teams 38981 and 30999
Feb. 2019 - Members of VIRUS met with eager students from a pair of Worlds-qualifying FLL teams to discuss a potential transition to FTC. We brought in sample robot parts, showed several game videos, and shared details of our past robot designs. With the students, we discussed several major changes including the rewards of careful budgeting, the industry-integrated nature of FTC outreach, and the the intimidating yet freeing hardware ecosystem. With parents, we discussed the importance of their involvement, the guidance they can provide to their kids, and the potential impacts of their connections and networking.
Tech Squad at Col. E. Brooke Lee Middle School
Feb. 2019 - At Colonel E. Brooke Lee Middle School in Silver Spring Maryland every Wednesday, an afterschool program called Tech Squad meets. This program is headed by the Passion for Learning Center, a group that focuses on giving low income communities opportunities to learn Technological skills. Members of Team Cypher introduced the FIRST Tech Challenge and our robot. It was refreshing to see a group so passionate about robotics! At the end, everyone gathered around for a demonstration of the robot’s capabilities. Everyone lined up to try driving the robot. There was a lot of reckless driving! Thank you so much to the teacher of the class and the coordinator for the Passion for Learning Center, Ms. Cynthia Rubenstein!
Kiddie Academy of Columbia
Feb. 2020 - Upon arrival at the Kiddie Academy, we set up in a small classroom, displaying the challenge, our team and other important notes regarding our significance as a team. We allowed children to drive the robot on a safe and slow mode along with our assistance and the assistance of parents. We spoke to the parents about our team and what we do as they were able to more easily grasp what we were saying. We handed the children some pins with consent from the parents and then as we left at the end of the event, we thanked Mr. Hemang Patel, the coordinator that we worked with the schedule the outreach. He then decided to sponsor our team with a decent sum of $150. We also found out that our robot can hug small children.
Maryland Robotics Center at the University of Maryland
Feb. 2020 - In our quest to learn more about robotics from upper-level educators, our club visited the Brendan Iribe Center for Computer Science and Innovation, at the University of Maryland College Park. We spoke to Dr. Derek A Paley, the director of the Maryland Robotics Center about FTC and each of our robots. We were able to learn about the University of Maryland's robotics programs and took a tour with Mr. Krishna Kidambi, a Postdoc Research Associate in Perception and Robotics Group. We discussed real-life applications of robotics and observed the robots held in UMD's facilities. Overall, this experience was really eye-opening to what we can do with robotics in terms of aerospace, commercial use, and research. We were also able happy to establish a personal connection with our sponsor, the Maryland Robotics Center, with whom we hope to continue this partnership in the future.
Centennial Lane Elementary School
Feb. 2020 - At Centennial Lane, Team VIRUS reached out to over 140 fourth grade students, engaging them in a hands-on presentation, Q&A session, and robotics demonstration.
Children's Home Orphanage
Feb. 2020 - Team Exponential presented to underprivileged students at the Children’s home, a local orphanage that tries to help and encourage mostly teenage students. We presented to a few students that seemed very interested in what we had to say, even allowing them to drive the robot around to gain a better feel for what it was like. After presenting, we thanked them and plan to re-contact them as to reach out to more students who were not in attendance at the time.
IDEA Lab Kids Workshop
Feb. 2020 - Team Cypher hosted and fully ran an event for kids in elementary and middle school at IDEA Lab Kids. We planned station activities that were fun and kid friendly. We were pleasantly surprised by all the families that came in to check out our workshop! We had several different STEM-related activities and challenges, including LEGO Mindstorms, buoyancy challenges, structural building challenges, and an information station about our club and FTC.
Kid Museum
Jan. 2020 - We focused on the functionality of our robot. We decided to present in an open area near the center of the room so people could observe our robot and presentation from all angles, also maximizing our exposure to share the importance of STEM to as many people as possible. We aimed to reach younger children so they could follow a path in STEM, allowing to explore and discover concepts in STEM at a younger age. Children would be able to foster a curiosity and passion for STEM at a young age. Additionally, we answered questions that parents had about robotics, our team, and FTC. Once again, a clear trend of reaching people of all ages is evidently clear in our outreaches.
FLL Teams at Science Cosmos Center
Jan. 2020 - Team Cypher went to the Science Cosmos Howard East Maryland Center: a local STEAM center that provides STEAM programs for grades K-7. There, we spoke to two FLL teams and their parents. We were able to introduce technical and logistical knowledge about FTC and how to sustain an FTC team, using our own experiences and robots. After that, we held a Q&A session about FIRST Tech Challenge, our robot, and our club. They also showed us their LEGO robot, some challenges they faced, and we ran them through a casual mock judging session and asked them questions to help them prepare for their FLL Competitions.
Ellicott Mills Middle School
2019 & Jan. 2020 - For two years, the CHS FTC Club has gone back to their roots and visited the PLTW Engineering Gateway class in Ellicott Mills Middle School to give a demonstration of our robots and talk about FTC and opportunities to get involved in robotics in high school. Since EMMS is a feeder into Centennial HS, we hope to have inspired students to join our club in the future!
Howard Community College (HCC)
Jan. 2020 - Team Cypher and our club president took a tour of the Science, Engineering, and Technology (SET) building with Associate Professor Mark Edelene, Chair of Engineering and Technology. He showed us the facilities and equipment that students use. We also learned about different types of 3D printers and their applications, the drone flying arena and motion tracking technology, types of materials students commonly use in engineering, and ongoing projects at HCC.
Bet Yeladim Preschool
Jan. 2020 - Exponential members presented at Bet Yeladim Preschool, where the kids went through a set of activities that simulated the engineering design process. This outreach spread the idea of STEM to the younger generation in order to gain support for the STEM field. The kids ran through a set of three activities: a Drawing Station, Building Station, and Trivia Station. At the Drawing Station, the kids drew a robot of their choice, or a robot that performed a certain task. At the Building Station, the kids used legos to build structures either from their drawing, or from a premade pack of legos that built a certain structure. After, the Trivia Station quizzed the kids on fun questions, to which they all received Exponential keychains. We presented ourselves and the club and demonstrated the robot for the little kids. The outreach went very successfully, for the kids were very enthusiastic and loved our activities!
CHS Winter Showcase
Dec. 2019 - Team VIRUS and other volunteer club members hosted our first ever Robotics Winter Showcase at Centennial HS in order to help Howard County students learn about FIRST by participating in six activities for the kids to enjoy, targeting building, programming, manufacturing, and marketing skills. It was a big success! About 20 kids showed up, along with their parents. The kids seemed to be having a lot of fun, and they were particularly interested in the robot and the 3D printing demos. Besides that, there was a salesman station with candy incentives, a textbook challenge station, a drawing with LEGO Mindstorms station, and a Scratch-a-thon Station. We have always conducted outreach to students at their schools, but we have never invited them into our home. This event gave us the opportunity to demonstrate not only our work and our robot, but it also to show the kids and their parents the environment and equipment that we work with.
Pointers Run Elementary School
Dec. 2019 & Jan. 2020 - Team VIRUS presented two 30-minute sessions for the 3rd graders at Pointers Run ES, demonstrated the robot, and allowed the kids to try driving it around, and had a Q&A session for the kids. A month later, we were invited by the principal to revisit the school and present to the third graders. The Principal was so happy with our presentation to the fourth-graders that she invited us back to present to the third graders!
4th Grade Waverly Elementary School
Dec. 2019 & Jan. 2020 - As part of VIRUS’ goal to involve as many students as possible into FIRST and STEM-related activities, we presented about FTC for the fourth graders at Waverly Elementary School. After presenting, we held a Q&A session with the kids. We explained how the robot worked, what coding language we used, what we learned from FTC, and how the skills we learned through the FIRST program helped us. We then did a robot demo and answered any last questions. A month later, we were invited back to present to the second grade technology class as well!
One Centennial Workshop
Spring 2019 & 2020 - For two years, the CHS FTC Club has held workshops for a student-run school event called One Centennial, where we gave a presentation about FTC and demonstrated our robot completing challenges on the playing field to garner more interest in the club. We also let students drive the robot around and pick up minerals to place in the lander. In our second year, we repeated this event virtually, acting as a interest meeting for new recruits.
Girl STEMpowerment Workshop
Nov. 2019 - Team Cypher and other club members collaborated with the Girl STEMpowerment Club, here at Centennial High, to create a workshop teaching children about robotics. We engaged over twenty girls and boys in presentations, demos, and a fun challenge to create a LEGO Mindstorms robot that can draw a picture that they can present to the group. Everyone had so much fun and we plan to do this again next year!
Centennial HS Technology Club Outreach
Oct. 2019 - Team Exponential spoke to one of the technology-involved clubs in our high school. We discussed the three main pillars of FTC, building, programming and community outreach, and then proceeded to urge them to consider joining our FTC club in our school in order to gain a better understanding of how FTC works before jumping into the deep end.
MD STEM Festival: Maker Celebration | USRA STEMaction Center
Oct. 2019 - In addition to learning about various areas of interest, ranging from 3D printing to musical instruments, the CHS FTC Club was able to connect with parents, children, and the public and expose them to the FIRST Tech Challenge Robotics programs. We were also continually demoing the robot, even letting the kids drive it (on slow mode of course!)
McDaniel College
Oct. 2019 - At McDaniel College, a Liberal Arts college in Westminster, Maryland, Team Cypher and a few VIRUS members held an open event to speak with Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science professors, engineers, programmers, and college students about the FIRST program, robotics, and engineering in general. Special thanks to Dr. Zhang for setting up this event!
RELI Group Inc.
Feb. 2020 - Team Cypher furthered our mission to make personal connections with our sponsors by reaching out to RELI Group: a software company based in Baltimore, Maryland. We gathered quite a crowd in their offices as we informed the employees of the company about the background of our club, this year’s challenge, and the formation of our team. Additionally, we ran our robot’s TeleOp mode to show the robot in action. While we were presenting, we drove the robot under different situations to exhibit our robot’s features and adaptability. After we finished presenting, we gave employees a chance to drive our robot in order to give them a sense of some of our robot’s driver assist features.
Local Motors Company
Feb. 2020 - Team Exponential visited the company, Local Motors, in National Harbor for a guided tour of Olli, their 3-D printed self-driving cars. Ms. Nikki Jones, who works in marketing, invited us to take a tour of their facility and learn about the design and creation process that Local Motors goes through to make products such as Olli. We were given a guided tour in an Olli around National Harbor, demonstrating its sensor capabilities and overall autonomy. Once we completed this tour, we perused the Local Motors exhibition in which we learned about the history of their company and the practicality of printing electric cars for the sustainability that other cars do not provide.
National Advocacy Conference: ESSA+Coin Act
June 2019 - Members of Team VIRUS, along with members of other FIRST teams, spoke with Sen. Chris Van Hollen and Rep. Elijah Cummings' assistant to advocate for two bills: the Coin Act of 2019 and the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). ESSA provides opportunities, expands education, and advances equity by using protections for America’s students in need. The Coin Act of 2019 enables the US treasury to issue 350,000 $1 silver coins in commemoration of McAuliffe. All surcharges received by the Treasury from the sale of the coins would be given to FIRST to inspire young people to become leaders in STEM. We talked about how positively FIRST impacted our lives and how we effectively use skills we learn from FIRST in our classes and lives. We also emphasized how FIRST has impacted students in Baltimore and encourages girls in STEM. This event was an incredible opportunity to meet directly with our government representatives and advocate for FIRST and our mission to spread STEM especially for underrepresented students.
Asymmetrik Visit
Team VIRUS and Exponential visited Asymmetrik, who has been their sponsor for two years. They gave a presentation about their robots and got to learn about the work that Asymmetrik does.
Sponsorship Run
2018, Dec. 2019 - A few members from each team visited a variety of stores on Baltimore National Pike, asking for potential sponsorships. We received a $100 in-store credit from Home Depot to purchase tools. Team Exponential then repeated this experience the following year. Not only did this experience allow us to reach out to our local community, but it also exposed new members to sponsorship runs so that they will be more prepared for future outreach opportunities.
Sharing Ideas Across the Nation
Feb. 2019 - Through video call, VIRUS was able to connect with teams 12416 Jagwires and 15071 Gearheads from Iowa. Making friends and working together with other teams to make our community a better place is very important to our mission. We have always mostly focused within our own community in Maryland, so it was a breath of fresh air to talk to FTC teams from Iowa. We shared ideas about technical innovation and outreach experience, learning from each other. We hope to stay connected in the future, and maybe even become sister teams!
Scrimmage at Chapelgate
Feb. 2020 - The three teams in the CHS FTC Robotics Club attended the Scrimmage at Chapelgate Christian Academy held by one of our fellow FTC teams, Team Vector #5233 after they graciously invited us to practice for States. This was super helpful for getting extra practice before our competition, and thanks to the gracious advice from all the teams we have met, we were able to make changes to improve our robot's overall performance.
CodeNinjas
Nov. 2019 - Code Ninjas, a local coding center for kids, was hosting a coding open house as part of the Maryland STEM Festival. We reached out to their director and asked if we could volunteer and present our robot at their event. At the event, we demonstrated our robot and make our presentation more interactive by letting others drive the robot. We also let people draw a robot to win a pin, a fun activity that engaged the younger children. In addition, we presented our code and explained how some of our methods work. One goal of this opportunity was to garner more interest in STEM from the younger community, by encouraging them to participate in FLL and FTC when they get to high school. Overall, we engaged our local STEM community through this outreach. We hope to volunteer again at Code Ninjas sometime in the future, as it was a great experience.
Senior Center Outreach
Nov. 2019 - Team Exponential planned a visit to a local senior center in order to reach out to older citizens that haven’t received a lot of technological education and aren’t very STEM-involved. As our world is constantly improving and innovating, it is important for everyone to be up to date with and understand the importance of technology to help further the industry that has built society into what it is today, even senior citizens that have already contributed to society throughout their lives. We presented our robot to the seniors, allowing them to drive it around and feel in their hands more tangibly how technology has improved and can improve our society. Once we finished demonstrating and presenting, we handed out pins and keychains and thanked them for their time in listening to us.
Maryland STEM Festival at Howard County Chinese School
Nov. 2019 - Team VIRUS represented Centennial High School at the Maryland STEM Festival 2019 at the Howard County Chinese School. We demoed our robot and spoke to interested kids, parents, and teachers about our love for STEM with other presenters. In the past, many VIRUS members have attended the Chinese School, and acknowledge it as an institution dedicated to culture exchange and higher learning. We have supported many FLL teams in past years here, so we made it our mission to tell students that FTC was the next step. We were fortunate to promote FIRST and STEM at this institution dedicated to cultural exchange and higher learning.
Senior Center Outreach
Team VIRUS and Exponential visited two senior centers, Rainbow Terrace Adult Day Care and Long Life Adult Medical Center, and gave a presentation about our club's mission as a part of FTC.
Howard County Chinese School (HCC)
Team Exponential went to the Howard County Chinese School's STEM fair located at Howard County Community College. We gave presentations, demonstrated our robot, and talked to other teams such as Team RICE, 14185, and the FLL teams based on the Chinese school and local churches.
Lunar New Year Festival
Team VIRUS and Exponential visited Glenelg High School for the Lunar New Year Festival, where they set up their own booths to demonstrate their robots in action. They also let children drive around the robots, showing them how fun FTC can be.