Fifth Annual U City FLL Warm Up at UCHS

On Saturday, September 26th, University City High School was host to the fifth annual University City FIRST LEGO League Warm Up.  This event, sponsored by U. City Robotics, brought together 27 teams and approximately 125 students plus parents and mentors from across the region and as far away as Cape Girardeau.  FIRST LEGO League (FLL) introduces young people, ages 9 to 14, to the fun and excitement of science and technology. Teams, composed of up to ten children, build and program an autonomous robot to score points on a thematic playing field, as well as research and create a presentation centered around creative and innovative solutions to a problem (this year they will seek to solve the world's trash problems) and adhere to set of core values known as gracious professionalism.

The teams came to the Warm Up for an early chance to test drive the robots they are building and programming for the 2015 FLL challenge, TRASH TREK.  While there was no official refereeing or scoring, they had an excellent opportunity to meet and compete with other teams, and to practice for the upcoming November qualifiers (two of which will be held at Brittany Woods Middle School.) The event is also used by FIRST LEGO League of Eastern Missouri to train referees for the upcoming competition season.

FLL teams get the chance to play
this year's robot game in a timed
environment. 

Technical support was on hand to assist teams with design, building, and programming as well as subject expertise for the project presentations required as part of the competition.  The City of University City sent an employee from Waste Management, and Washington University sent six subject experts to help with project research.

Students get expert help on their research projects.

Six of our own district FLL teams, from Jackson Park Elementary, Flynn Park Elementary, and Brittany Woods Middle School, participated in the event.  All district teams were sponsored by Rankin Technical College, who was also a sponsor of the event and provided technical support staff.

Members of the Brittany Woods team make adjustments
to their robot.

Our high school robotics team, the UCHS Robolions - FIRST Robotics Competition team #3397 - brought their competition robot to demonstrate and even allowed some of the kids from FLL to try their hands at driving it.  The Robolions also provided help with set-up the night before, and volunteered at the event in various capacities, including providing programming expertise and support.

UCHS Robolions team members
set up the FLL competition fields.

FIRST  (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) was founded in 1989 to inspire young people's interest in science and technology. In 2015 FIRST programs will reach 400,000 students around the world through four leveled programs for kids K-12.  FIRST kids are significantly more likely to attend college, major in science or engineering, and be outstanding future employees and citizens, For more information, please visit www.usfirst.org.  

Jackson Park Elementary 'I Have a Dream'

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. we share this beautiful video from 2007, featuring third graders from Jackson Park Elementary School. 

Friday Night Lights

No, we're not talking football, but on Friday, January 24th the lights were on at many of the U. City schools this past Friday night. There was a basketball game at the high school, bingo night at Flynn Park, Cub Scout Chili Cookoff at Jackson Park, and the Winter Ball at Brittany Wood Middle School - what has become the social event of the season. Below are a few snapshots of all the fun.

Brittany Wood Winter Ball

Jackson Park Cub Scout Chili Cook-off

The U. City Fire Department chooses the winner of the "Judges Choice"

The JP Girl Scouts provide the home-baked desserts

It was a full house at the January 24 Chili Cook-off

Seen on Facebook: JP GOTR

Congratulations Jackson Park Girls on the Run who received the 2013 Komen Award for Excellence in Community Service and placed third in the in the St. Louis GOTR chapter. Thanks Nancy Mozier for the photo!

Jackson Park Girls on the Run

More than twenty awesome girls from Jackson Park Elementary, along with parents and teachers, participated in the November 16th, 2013 Girls on the Run 5K in downtown St. Louis.  Way to go girls!

Thanks to JP parent Nikki Scheele for the photos!

JP Hits the Road

The weather was picture-perfect for Jackson Park Elementary's second annual Family Walk to School Day, held on Tuesday, October 8th.  Nearly 200 kids and adults participated in this year's event, sponsored by the Jackson Park PTO.  The purpose of the event, says PTO Treasurer and event chair Joycelyn Barnes, "is to get the community walking, biking, skipping to school and leading a more healthy lifestyle." In addition to the health benefits it's also great for community building, as participants have a chance to get to know their neighbors and other JP families.

The PTO partnered with Trailnet to design safe walking routes where volunteers waited at each stop to escort a group of kids to school.  "Trailnet works with parents, schools, and administrators as well as other non-profits to organize these events in order to get parents and kids out walking to school for exercise and fun" says Trailnet School Specialist Cynthia Cantrell. 

Trailnet works with 13 school districts in the greater St. Louis area and holds between eight and ten Walk to School Days each spring and fall. Trailnet received a grant from the Missouri Foundation for Health to work with both Jackson Park Elementary and Flynn Park Elementary to promote pedestrian  and bicycle education and safety. 

Once the walkers made it to school they were treated to coffee and bagels for the adults, and Cheerios for the kids. The Scholastic Book Fair was open in the gym as well. At the Trailnet tables kids received a bike safety coloring book, an "I Walked to School Today" sticker and a key chain. 

Organizers hope to grow this event in years to come, including finding a way to involve JP's bus riders as well. Flynn Park Elementary will hold their event in the spring. 

Thank you to Sarah Holahan for the photos. 

Robots "Warm Up" at UCHS

The gymnasium at University City High School buzzed with excitement Saturday morning October 5th, as 22 registered elementary and middle school robotics teams from across the area converged for the fourth annual U. City FLL Warm Up (formerly the "U. City Scramble").  FLL, which stands for FIRST LEGO League, is a component of the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) robotics program started by inventor Dean Kamen in 1989 to inspire young people's interest and participation in science and technology. (Click here to read about our high school's FIRST Robotics Competition team). 

Teams crowd around the tables in the UCHS gymnasium
to observe practice matches.

In FLL, small teams of students aged 9 to 14 design, build, program, and test robots made from LEGO MINDSTORMS technology. At the beginning of each season (which lasts approximately 3 months) teams are issued a challenge with a series of obstacles that their robots must overcome, and research project ot complete and present. The 2013 challenge is called Nature's Fury, and  explores natural disasters and how technology can help us to prepare, stay safe, and rebuild.

At this year's Warm Up, teams had the opportunity to put their robots through their paces in the robot game, meet other teams and see their robots, and get a feel for what an actual competition might be like.  In addition, teams could meet with a panel of experts from the Red Cross and Washington University to ask questions and get help on this year's project.  Students and staff from Ranken Technical College were also on hand to provide programming assistance to the teams. 

A team from Flynn Park listens to a referee explain one of the
many "missions" they can complete in the robot game.

This event is typically the first chance the officials and referees have to see the robot game in action, and is used as a training event for them as well. One of the founding tenants of FIRST is the concept of Gracious Professionalism, which means that teams can compete fiercely but still treat each other with respect and kindness and help everyone to achieve their best game. The Warm Up is a great example of this in action, as teams learn from and help one another. 

Of the 22 teams participating this year, five were from University City schools,  including Flynn Park, Jackson Park, Barbara C. Jordan, and Brittany Woods Middle. Members of the UCHS Robolions FRC team assisted and served as referees. University City is proud to be one of the only local districts to have robotics teams at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. 

The "pit" areas are a hive of activity, as teams tweak and
troubleshoot their robots

In the weeks to come, teams will continue to hone their robots, research their project, and prepare presentations.  The competition season kicks off on October 26th with the first in a series of ten qualifiers, two of which will be held at Brittany Woods Middle School on November 9th and 10th.  The top teams from each qualifier will then go on to compete in the Eastern Missouri FLL Championship at Florissant Valley Community College on December 8th.  The winner of that event has the chance to compete against teams from around the world  in the FIRST World Championship, held April 23 - 26, 2014, at the America's Center right here in St. Louis!  For details and qualifier schedules visit the St. Louis FIRST website.

The Warm Up, brainchild of U. City parents Nicole Adewale, Celina McGinnis, and Ed Deitzler, has grown steadily since its inception in 2010.  The event started as a way to, "pull together resources to help University City's FLL teams prepare for the official qualifying events" says Adewale (UCHS Class of 1986), "but from the beginning we (and Superintendent Pruitt) felt it was important to share our resources with other teams in the area, which would in turn allow us to learn from other teams.  What we originally envisioned as an extended practice event has turned out to be a premier technical conference for elementary and middle school students and has also become a major training opportunity for referees."

The sponsoring organization for the Warm Up was U.City Robotics, founded by parents several years ago to promote FIRST programs in University City and introduce our students to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields through the excitement of competitive robotics. Kids who participate in FIRST are significantly more likely to attend college and major in science or engineering (in fact, all seven 2013 graduating seniors from the high school's robotics team, many of whom began robotics in middle school, are currently majoring in science or engineering.)

U. City Robotics is grateful to the Deitzler, McGinnis, Holahan and Adewale families for organizing and setting up the event and to members of the St. Louis FIRST Robotics FLL committee, Ranken, Wash U., Edwardsville Robotics, and the Red Cross for supplying nearly 30 volunteers who provided a stellar opportunity to the teams who participated.

All photos courtesy of Celina McGinnis

A Jolly Good Time

Whether you call it JamBearee or Jamboree, the annual end-of-year Jackson Park carnival is a 25-year plus school tradition.

My daughter at JamBearee, circ. 2004
(yes, that is a real baby camel)

JamBearee has evolved over the years. What used to take place on the blacktop behind the school, now takes place on the front lawn and circle drive.

And thanks to current management (that would be PTO president extraordinaire, Joycelyn Barnes), it practically looks like a professional production.

This year, even rain couldn't delay the start of the carnival. After all, that is what umbrellas are for.

Then the sun came out and dancing ensued.

 

There was face painting and fire trucks, hamburgers and bounce houses.

 

 

 

 

Tons of fun with friends, and the prizes were pretty awesome too.

 

 

 

It may be her last year as an official Jackson Park student, but I have a feeling my daughter will be back to carry on the tradition next year.

 

My daughter's last JamBearee, circ. 2013
(My, how she has grown)

 

Shakespeare in the Gym

Shakespeare in the Park opens May 24 and runs through June 16, 2013. This year the festival is performing 12th Night, one of Shakespeare's most famous plays.

Thanks to the Shakespeare Festival and Jackson Park PTO, the students at JP didn't have to wait until opening night. The PTO brought 12th Night to them.

Shakespeare in Our Schools is the educational tour arm of the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival. The 50-minute touring shows features actors from the festival's award-winning Touring ensemble.

Annually, the touring program reaches over 25,000 students in 125+ schools in Missouri and Illinois and Jackson Park was lucky to be one of those schools. As a parent, I can tell you that seeing this performance provides the foundation for children to understand the full performance when seen in Forest Park.

For other schools that may be interested in future performances, the Shakespeare Festival offers four types of programming: Education Tour, Metro Youth Shakespeare, Camps & Classes and Workshops & Residencies.

For more information please contact:
Christopher Limber, Education
Director at 314.531.9800 x 109 or email climber@sfstl.com
 

      

 

A Spring Fling

In just a few short weeks fifth graders in U. City will walk through the doors of their elementary schools as students for the last time. When the school year begins in the fall they will be middle school students at Brittany Woods.

This is a bittersweet moment for parents, but an exciting time for those pre-teens. As I overheard my daughter say to her girlfriend, "I can't wait for sixth grade. I am sooo over fifth grade."

In the spirit of celebrating their elementary years and their promotion to middle school, Jackson Park hosted its first ever "Spring Fling" for the fifth grade class.

Fifth graders that attended the Spring Fling

Students arrived in festive attire (some which had been planning what to wear for weeks). One young gentleman arrived with flowers in hand for his favorite girl and the crowd erupted in screams of excitement.

 

All you can eat pizza, nachos, and sno cones and special cupcakes kept the group energized during the party.

In between snacking there were congo dances, line dances, limbo dancing, hula hooping, and even some break dancing face offs.

Dancing the night away!

Thank you to Bella Quintal and Stacie Foote for organizing the event. In the words of those that attended, it was "the best party ever!"

Bella Quintal and Stacie Foote

Girls on the Run

Yesterday morning our family rose at 5 a.m. to journey downtown and cheer on our "girl" while she ran a 5k with her Jackson Park Girls on the Run team and 8,000 other people.

Getting ready for the practice 5k on the high school track.

Girls on the Run St Louis is a non-profit prevention program that encourages preteen girls to develop self-respect and healthy lifestyles through running.

The 20-lesson Girls on the Run curriculum combines training for a 5k (3.1 miles) running event with lessons that inspire girls to become independent thinkers, enhance their problem solving skills and make healthy decisions.  All of this is accomplished through an active collaboration with girls and their parents, schools, volunteers, staff and the community.

Head Coach Nancy Mozier

At Jackson Park we are fortunate to have Nancy Mozier and Peggy Stein as the teacher coaches and Vanessa Schrader and Amanda Elliott as our volunteer coaches. To their credit, there were a number of other teachers that assisted along the way.

JP "vogues" as they get ready to race.

 

Over ten weeks the girls improved their teamwork, respect for one another and self-esteem. I especially loved the day my daughter came home and told me how she and another girl had become friends through GOTR when previously they thought they had reasons to dislike one another.

 

But race day isn't just for the girls - it's a family affair. Mothers, brothers, dads, sisters, aunts, and uncles and grandparents too, all converge on downtown St. Louis to run, watch, and cheer on the runners to the finish line.

Brothers running to support their sisters, while others prefer to cheer on the runners...

 

 

What a sense of accomplishment for these girls to finish a 5k race with the excitement of 8,000 other runners. Our girl is moving to middle school next year. While she may miss some of her GOTR JP teammates, she'll be joining others at Girls on Track at Brittany Woods Middle School.

 

A well-earned rest after the race.