History Main | 2000: Co-Opertition FIRST | 2001: Diabolical Dynamics | 2002: Zone Zeal | 2003: Stack Attack | 2004: FIRST Frenzy - Raising the Bar | 2005: Triple Play | 2006: Aim High | 2007: Rack 'N' Roll | 2008: FIRST Overdrive | 2009: Lunacy | 2010: Breakaway

2010: Breakaway

FIRST Game Description - FIRST Breakaway

We began meeting every other Tuesday through the Fall. Mr. Dowd, the new technology teacher, joined us as a team advisor. The Booster Club also began meetings to address fundraising efforts.
Mr. Kraft was awarded tenure in October!

The Homecoming parade was cancelled due to rainy weather. We'd prepared our 2005 robot for the parade by adding the discarded jaws from 2008 to give it a fierce look, but we didn't get to use it. The fireworks were postponed a week too. The same day as Homecoming was the Deer Park Regional.

A couple of mentors helped with field setup at the Deer Park Invitational. We prepared a second robot for rookie team use, but the two 2010 rookies weren't yet together enough to bring a team of students, so it wasn't used.
Mr. McLeod had to put together all the field electronics, since FIRST didn't let us borrow the standard Field Management System (FMS) as part of the off-season field rental. He also controlled the field during the matches.
Nolan Conway was interviewed by cable channel 12 news and we got a mention in Newsday . Only one freshman was able to come, but he got to drive in a match. We ended the qualifying rounds with only two wins out of eight matches, but were chosen by Hicksville Team 1468 and Sachem Team 263 as part of the fourth alliance. It took 3 rounds to advance to the semi-finals, we swept our semi's to become finalists, but fell to first seed Plainview-Old Bethpage Team 353/Comsewogue Team 1751/Patchogue-Medford Team 329.

Safe Halloween actually occurred on the day of Halloween this year. It was a very warm day and a lot of trick-or-treaters came out to play the games all the high school clubs setup.
We employed two robots this year:

• Our 2009 robot played catch where the youngsters bowled orbit balls across the floor and up a ramp into the robot's ball intake. When enough balls were scored, the robot spit them back out at the bowlers.
• Our 2008 robot gripped a bin in it's arms and waved it up and down, while the robot dodged and costumed children tried to score orbit balls into the bin.

We had four students serving as escorts for honorees at the SBPLI 60/60 Gala fundraiser to help support our local Regional event. Southold and Plainview also brought their robots for display. Mr. McLeod was there as well as a representative for Northrop Grumman, as well as, Hauppauge, and our Superintendent, Pat Kriss, was also there representing Long Island Superintendents.

The week of Thanksgiving we met for our annual team photo for the high school yearbook.

Our Workshops this year included:

• LabVIEW fundamentals hands-on workshop at Hauppauge High School in September
• Our annual KOP Workshop held a week after Kickoff at Hauppauge High School

West Islip held a beginners Autodesk Inventor workshop. Gershow Recycling invited teams out to Medford to collect a donation of aluminum. They let us take 50 lbs of 1/4" plate.
Some of our mentors worked with rookie team Connectquot and we served as a parts supply for pneumatics and other parts and supplies we had in stock, but they, as a rookie team, did not.
We registered for SBPLI, then the rookie Regional at WPI (WPI awarded us a travel grant), but were put on the wait list for Championship, because only 20 slots were open by the time we were allowed to register. Those 20 slots were gone within 30 seconds of opening. Many teams were unable to get in. However, by the end of January, 50 slots originally spoken for, were given up by teams unable to raise the funds and FIRST offered the waitlisted teams the slots. So we were in. The late start threw our budget into disarray, though.


Fundraising this year:

• Oldies concert
• Candy sale
• Bake sale
• Clothing drive
• Lotto for students to help raise funds for their own travel expenses

Pictures:

• Pre-season
• Deer Park Invitational
• Safe Halloween
• The Build Season
• 2010 Kickoff Field

General Season Videos
Officers
Seniors
Schedule of Events
KOP Vendor links
Special Thanks
Work Files
WPI Regional Grant Award