Episcopal Knightly News

  EPISCOPAL
  • Home
  • Blog and news
  • About us
    • Who We Are
    • Episcopal Identity
    • Leadership and Governance
    • Employment Opportunities
  • Our Program
    • Academics
    • Athletics
    • Arts
    • Spirituality
    • College Counseling
    • Student Support Services
  • Admission
    • Welcome to Admission
    • Affording Episcopal
    • Dates & Deadlines
    • Visit Episcopal
  • Reopening Plans
  • Giving
    • Spirit Mind Body Campaign
    • Quest Center
    • The eFund >
      • 2019-20 Donor List
    • Tributes and Memorials
    • Give Online
    • Development Team
  • e-Resources
    • Student Resources
    • Parent Resources
    • Teacher Resources
    • Library Resources
  • School Store
  • Alumni
  • Parents' Guild
  • Squires
  • Lunch Menu
  • Contact

KnightVision Takes the Win at the Red Stick Rumble!

9/8/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Congratulations to Episcopal's KnightVision 3991!  The Episcopal School of Baton Rouge Upper School robotics team recently won the 2017 Red Stick Rumble held at Woodlawn High School on August 26.
​

If you’ve never been to a robotics competition, imagine a high energy, intense, competitive atmosphere with students scrambling to complete delicate tasks with a robot they only had six weeks to build. This season, students had to program their machine to cross the field of competition, pick up gears and place them precisely to activate a group of rotors.  Once complete, the robot then had to finish by hanging upside down in the arena - no easy feat for 100 pounds of metal!  Did I mention, these are teenagers who are building, programming, piloting, driving and working together to accomplish these feats?

It takes tremendous teamwork to bring these amazing machines to life.  During competition season, we eat, sleep and breathe robotics. Team members spend countless hours together outside of the regular school day fabricating and testing the robot.  Team parents bring us snacks or run to the store for extra parts.  For everyone there is a sense of pride and ownership that comes from working toward a common goal.
Picture
In robotics, teamwork also extends well beyond individual schools and teams.  In the final rounds of any competition, teams are paired up into alliances comprised of three teams which then compete for victory as one larger team.  This setup allows for unprecedented teamwork and cooperation in a competitive setting.  For example, KnightVision was able to come to the rescue of a fellow Red Stick competitor by loaning them a piece of equipment they needed to complete their next round.  We were also the benefactor of such teamwork when our robot’s gears began to heat up during the last rounds and another team stepped up to help us with a quick fix, allowing us to continue on.
 

The Red Stick Rumble victory was especially sweet for our KnightVision seniors.  “We’ve gone to the same competitions for four years and we’ve made it to the finals every year and were just barely out.  It’s good to finally win,” says Rohit Gondi.  There are 20 students on team KnightVision, spanning all four years of Upper School.  These students take on roles such as pilot, driver, programmer and drive coach.  Team members Will Bodron, Marcus Botos and Logan Robertson all reported a sense of accomplishment after the win.  “This is something we’ve worked on since January,” said Bodron, who is in his senior year.  Logan Robertson, who is also a senior and a new member of the team, says he’s glad he joined after seeing the action.
   

Aside from creating camaraderie and a cohesive team, robotics is also a great opportunity for students to flex their future engineering muscle.  While Bodron, Botos and Robertson may have different feelings about math and science they all agree that robotics makes learning fun.  Meanwhile, Gondi says he most enjoys the competitive environment, the constant need for improvement and the workload during the season.  All of the time and dedication poured into a robotics team can certainly have long term benefits as well.  Listing participation on a school’s robotics team is definitely a plus for students when applying to a college.  In addition, there are millions of dollars in robotic scholarships available each year.
Picture
On August 26th, KnightVision wasn’t thinking along those lines.  The team was simply focused on getting the robot to obey their commands.  Our first Red Stick Rumble victory caps off the end of this season’s robotics competition and we will retire this robot on a high note, having put up the highest scoring match of the day several times.
​ 
​
A new season kicks off again on January 6th when the teams are issued a new challenge to build a new robot to accomplish new feats.  Like this past season, we’ll have six weeks to build the machine and prepare for battle in hopes of making it to the Einstein round of the world finals.  As Gondi puts it, the team will need to strategize better and work faster and more efficiently in order to compete at this level.  I know we are up to the challenge!
If you’d like to join us in next year’s challenge please contact me or any member of the KnightVision team

Picture

Melissa Estemera

Melissa Estremera is the Upper School Science, Math and Creativity Instigator for Episcopal School of Baton Rouge. In this position she helps enhance curriculum, develops inquiry based lessons and assists teachers in integrating STEM into their classrooms. Additionally, she is the head mentor for FRC Knightvision, Episcopal's high school robotics team, and directs the ESTAAR program, a supervised science research program for Upper School students. Although Melissa originally worked in research and development in the medical industry, she transitioned to education because she loves working with students and developing their interests in research, computer science and engineering. She has a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University and a Master of Education in School Administration from Regent University.
​

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.


    Follow @EpiscopalBR

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Admission
    Athletics
    College Bound 2017
    College Bound 2018
    College Bound 2019
    College Bound 2020
    College Bound 2021
    Counselors Corner
    Diversity
    Episcopal Alumni
    From The Library
    Giving
    Head Of School Messages
    Lower School
    Middle School
    Project Based Education
    Science
    Spirituality And Service
    Sports
    Student Work
    Technology
    The Teachers' Lounge
    Upper School
    Visual And Performing Art

    Tour our Campus

    Subscribe to our mailing list

    * indicates required
    Email Format

    Archives

    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015

About Episcopal

Head of School Corner
Who We Are
​
Episcopal Identity

Our Program

Academics
Lower School
​
Middle School
​
Upper School
​
College Counseling 
Athletics
Visual & Performing Arts

Admission

Admission Team
​Dates and Deadlines
​Affording Episcopal
​
Visit Episcopal
​Online Payment Portal

Resources
Employment Opportunities
​​
Employee Portal 

Giving Opportunities 

Giving
The Capital Campaign
The e Fund
Legacy Giving
Tributes and Memorials
Give Online 
Development Team

Explore
Blogs and News
Alumni Affairs
Parents Guild

Contact

Episcopal School of Baton Rouge
3200 Woodland Ridge Blvd., Baton Rouge, LA 70816
Phone: 225.753.3180
​
communications@ehsbr.org

Subscribe to our mailing list

* indicates required
Email Format
Photos used under Creative Commons from Ben Taylor55, EpicTop10.com, EpicTop10.com
  • Home
  • Blog and news
  • About us
    • Who We Are
    • Episcopal Identity
    • Leadership and Governance
    • Employment Opportunities
  • Our Program
    • Academics
    • Athletics
    • Arts
    • Spirituality
    • College Counseling
    • Student Support Services
  • Admission
    • Welcome to Admission
    • Affording Episcopal
    • Dates & Deadlines
    • Visit Episcopal
  • Reopening Plans
  • Giving
    • Spirit Mind Body Campaign
    • Quest Center
    • The eFund >
      • 2019-20 Donor List
    • Tributes and Memorials
    • Give Online
    • Development Team
  • e-Resources
    • Student Resources
    • Parent Resources
    • Teacher Resources
    • Library Resources
  • School Store
  • Alumni
  • Parents' Guild
  • Squires
  • Lunch Menu
  • Contact