21st Century Skills

by Miranda M.

Thursday evening, February 3rd, Bear Metal went to the 2011 Tech Expo sponsored by the Kent School District, and held in downtown Kent at the Showare Center. This is the second year of the expo, and the second time Bear Metal has been there. We were invited to represent FIRST, and were joined in this by FRC Team 3221 from Kent Meridian High School.

The expo is a showcase for Kent schools. The theme this year had to do with skills for the 21st century, and the Showare Center was full of booths with students demonstrating the technical skills they are building, from computer-aided learning to video production.

We brought along Bearenstein, our robot from the 2009 FRC competition Lunacy. Bearenstein's favorite trick is to pull in any ball that rolls his way, convey the ball up to his turret, and shoot it out to waiting people. This makes Bearenstein a crowd pleaser, and I was in charge of making sure the eager kids who wanted to throw balls into Bearenstein stayed at a safe distance and all had a chance to try it. Bearenstein was kept very busy all evening, stopping only occasionally to cool his motors.

Team 3221 brought their robot from the 2010 season. They have retrofitted it with a cannon which shoots t-shirts into the crowd, and the loud honk of the pneumatic cannon resounded frequently through the Showare Center. The sound is akin to a Canada goose, but much louder.

Eventually, the evening came to a close, and Bear Metal packed up Bearenstein and went back up the hill. Perhaps, we'll be back next year.