Semi Finalists!!!

"To transform our culture by creating a world where science and technology are celebrated and where young people dream of becoming science and technology leaders."

- Dean Kamen, F.IR.S.T. Founder

Well as we prepare to depart from one of most memorable educational experiences for our students, we can reflect upon a successful week of education in areas of culture, history, science, math, ecology, technology and other areas. Your students represented not only Camden County Technical Schools in the most positive way imaginable, but also represented the state of New Jersey. To watch our students experience and capitalize on this very unique opportunity was truly a privilege. You all should be very proud!!

Yesterday we had another successful day of competition! We made it all the way through the semi-finals allowing us to finish in the third place robot alliance with two other Hawaiian teams! We concluded the competition with this honor and winning a significant award, the Imagery award! Even more importantly, our team leaves with the distinction of being one of two mainland teams to participate and memories that will last a life-time!!!

Yesterday we also met with the Governor of Hawaii, Linda Lingle!! She welcomed us to the state and interacted with our students. We also presented her with some souvenirs from our team and the State of New Jersey.

As we prepare to check out of the hotel, I wanted to remind you all of our travel arrangements:

#1 United Flight #082 Departing from Honolulu at 1:00PM Hawaii Time and Arriving to Los Angelos at 9:21PM Pacific Time.

#2 United Flight #0457 Departing from LA at 10:10PM Pacific Time and arriving in Philadelphia at 6:13AM Eastern Time.

I will try to send e-mails as we arrive and depart from the different flights. The students will call you once we leave the airport to give you a time to pick them up from school.

Mahalo (Hawaiian for Thank You) to all those who have supported and followed us during this amazing journey.

From Hawaii for the last time, ALOHA!!

PS - See some pictures below:

Our driving team transporting Rocky off the Field.

Our safety captain providing first aid to another team's member.

Rocky hanging from the tower for the big win!!!

Another win from the tower!!

Rocky and our team coming off the field.

Group photo with Gov. Linda Lingle.

Presenting the governor with some salt water taffy from the Jersey Shore!

Our Team at the closing ceremony!

Picture with Hawaii FIRST Regional Director Army General Ishikawa.

Award Winners....

Today was a great day at the competition! We won the Jack Kamen Imagery award. This award "recognizes and celebrates attractiveness in engineering and outstanding visual aesthetic integration of machine and team appearance." This is a sought after and very significant award. All of the students worked very hard to get this, from those who served as liaisons to the judges today to our student team members who worked on our graphics and design elements. All should be proud of this.

Also, I e-mailed everyone earlier. The Hawaii FIRST Regional is being webcast on the NASA site. Please go to the NASA SITE by clicking here.

Please find some photos below from today's wonderful, award winning day:

Our safety captain and student ambassador who handle our presentations to our judges! Great job today in presenting for our award!!!


Our ambassador and safety captain meeting with a judge!


Getting ready for the next match!


The announcer wearing our Campbell's Soup Can Costume!

Fixing our robot arm...

Calibrating rocky..

Setting up rocky for a match.

Taking rocky off the field.

Our whole team after the day one awards ceremony with our trophy!!

Our team design team holding a well deserved award.

A last day of competition is tomorrow (Saturday). Still in the hunt for other awards and shooting for a position in the finals! Stay tuned for more info....

Thanks to everyone for their continued support.

Rocky the Robot, Aloha Style

Sorry I did not get a chance to blog yesterday, my lack of sleep caught up with me...

Today we spent the day at the University of Hawaii, Stan Sheriff Center, working and practicing with our robot. We had a very successful day getting him ready and doing some adjustments and upgrades. By the end of the day we had rocky in "tip-Top" shape.

Tommorrow we get into gear with the elimination rounds...We are looking forward to some more great competition.

Here are some pictures from our practice and work session days...

Working on our robot's programming.

Setting up our pit and safety display.

Making some adjustments!

Working on getting Rocky ready for the final inspection.

Out for one of our practice matches.

Getting ready to drive our bot on Hawaii soil.

Setting the robot up in our starting position.

Our team's scouting position with our banner.

Our driving team and Mr. Moore working on strategy.

Look for more posts and the promised video soon!

A date which will live in infamy...

Yesterday, December 7, 1941 - a date which will live on in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt, Address to Congress, Dec. 8, 1941

Today we had one of the most amazing educational opportunities that any educator and student could have, to actually visit one of the most important places in American History…Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial. The students impressions and comments about their experience today were invaluable. We are working on a video of today’s program in which we toured not only Pearl Harbor, but many other important historical sites in Honolulu. We hope to post the video on the blog tomorrow. Please find below some pictures of the students and their tour…
Stay tuned for the video tomorrow…

A view of the USS Missouri (where Japan surrendered) and the Arizona Memorial. The placement of the two memorials is considered to be the bookends of the war...the beginning and the end!

Students touring various memorials on shore.

Our group photo in front of the Arizona's anchor.

Viewing the memorials dedicated to all of the submarines lost during the war.

Group photo with the Arizona and Missouri in the background.

Waiting to board the shuttle boat to the memorial.

At the memorial viewing the memorial wall.

Listening to the Park Ranger.

The names of all lost that day.

Inside the memorial.

Looking down on the wreck and the tomb of all those sailors.

The oil is still leaking from the ship nearly 70 years after sinking..

One of the stacks.

The Arizona's original mooring.

We also visited Punch Bowl national military cemetery of the Pacific.

A day at the beach, and a night of shopping!

Today we had a very fun day…

Firstly, as most of you know, we changed hotels in the morning…we are now in a much nicer hotel…no problems and everyone is happy!

We spent the afternoon at Waikiki Beach…and yes it is as beautiful as you have heard..maybe more so! The students had a great time playing on the beach and in the ocean. Some of them rented snorkling gear and snorkled close to the beach. Everyone had a great time!
This evening we visited the Ala Moana Center, considered the world’s largest outdoor shopping mall!! The students had an opportunity to do some shopping and eat in the very international food court.

Tomorrow we will be visiting Pearl Harbor and other historic areas on a city tour. We are all really excited for the tour tommorrow!

Please see some pictures from today (Monday) below….

Yes, it is very easy to hang loose on Waikiki Beach!


Warm water in Hawaii!


Tossing a football on the beach!


Riding the trolly back from the mall.

Fun on the trolly.

In front of our new hotel.

ALOHA!!

We are Here!!! ALOHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Camden County Tech’s FIRST Robotics Team has arrived in Hawaii…

We had a very unentfull plane trip to Chicago and then to Honolulu. The students did a great job on the grueling plane rides (over 14 hours of traveling!).
We are all checked into the hotel and we went out tonight to get they lay of the land. We walked to Waikiki beach and around the main downtown. We also spent time at the international marketplace for some shopping and dinner. Tomorrow we are going to do some sightseeing and spend some time on the beach!

Here are some pictures from today:

About Half Way through our plane trip!


Trying to get some rest!

At Honolulu International Airport after our lei greeting!

Group Shot on Waikiki Beach with Diamond Head in the Background!

I am posting this at about 10:00PM Hawaii Standard Time (or about 4AM Eastern Time!) So you can imagine what a day we had with no sleep and traveling…Stay tuned for more posts tomorrow!