Lilly Orskog and Maddie French spoke to the club about the Kirksville robotics team. Both are seniors this year and have been on the robotics team for a few years. The team is not affiliated with the school district and receives no funding from the district, but it does allow them to use space above the technical center to meet and build their robots. The club started in 2011, and has historically had two teams, but this year there are only enough members to field one team.  Maddie and Lilly said they hope to speak to a number of organizations in town and garner support for the club, which in turn might end up in more students wanting to join in the coming years.  The robotics team competes in several competitions each year.  The competitions are generally in the KC or STL area. The team consists of students who build, program, and drive the robots, as well as those who specialize in building alliances with other teams at competitions. The teams pair up with others at competitions and compete in teams of two, so it is important to have someone on the team with good communication skills that knows what their own robots strengths and weaknesses are. Then look for a team that has a robot that has strengths where yours might have a weakness. The competitions are fun and there is a lot of science and technology learned throughout the process, but the mission of the robots team is to build future leaders with effective team building and communication skills.  The science, engineering and technical skills used in robotics is simply a fun and interesting vehicle used to help accomplish that mission. Lilly and Maddie said that anyone who wants to learn more about Robotics or has an interest in helping coach or mentor the team could contact them or Betsy Tornatore at the high school. They are always looking for adult mentors that have skill in building and coding, but would also love to have someone that just wants to help out and learn more about robotics themselves.

 

 

Duck Dash is back.  Noon club has not done it since 2015.  They hope to raise $3,500. The event will be held at the Days Inn Swimming Pool from 3-5PM, Sunday 27OCT . $5 to adopt a duck or 6 for $25. The three fastest ducks win prize money $1k, $750, and $500.  Proceeds from the event go to help build the natural playground at FLATS trailhead.

 

Raffle tickets to win a vacation in FL or CO, or a piece of jewelry (three prizes).  Tickets are $100 each and should have received an email from the district with link of how to purchase the tickets.  Let Marilyn know if you area interested and did not get the email.

 

There is also a raffle to win dinner for two anywhere in the world.   Tickets are $25 each  and again, you should have received an email about this event. If you did not get the email and are interested contact Jon P.

 

Nicole joined us this morning to talk about her ATSU sorority's effort to provide 100 Thanksgiving baskets to people in the area who are food insecure this year.   Each basket cost $40, and include $15 of non-perishable food and a $25 gift card to Hy-Vee. If you are interesting in supporting this effort please let Jon P. know.