Community Service

Community Service
As is evident from FIRST's vision statement - To create a world where science and technology are celebrated...where young people dream of becoming science and technology heroes - FIRST is not truly about building robots but instead inspiring America's youth about science and technology. Indeed, FIRSTs highest award, the Chairman's Award, celebrates not successful robots but instead successful teams, those teams which best spread the inspiration of science and technology.

To this end, WBI 461 is fully dedicated to community service and robotics outreach. Our varied initiatives include showcasing the robot in non-traditional settings, presenting workshops to different audiences, and volunteering our time helping local community organizations.

WBI 461 has also helped mentor four separate teams: 1555, 1646, 1747, and 2171, and brought the FIRST program to schools and people who had never before experienced it.
Team Community Service and Outreach Initiatives

Indiana State Fair Presentation--We have been a part of the state fair for the past eight years. This participation has been a great opportunity for our team to demonstrate the joys of science, math, technology and engineering. We have presented programs and set up FLL, Vex, and FRC robots for attendees to drive.

YWCA Strawberry Festival and Taste of Tippecanoe--This past summer, WBI 461 demo-ed its robots and helped run booths at the Strawberry Fest and the Taste of Tippecanoe. We helped raise hundreds of dollars for the YWCA and exposed the community to the benefits of science and technology.

Indiana State House Presentation--Team members and mentors went to the statehouse in late February to educate legislators and public servants about the FIRST program. Coach Florence also showed how FIRST has changed technology education in high schools from simply a shop class to a pre-engineering curriculum.

Purdue Basketball Half-time Show--WBI 461's Rowdy 7.0 and Purdue's Rowdy Pete had a three-point shooting contest during half-time of a women's game recently. This upped our community visibility and showcased science and technology in a non-standard setting. Rowdy 7.0 lost to its namesake by just two baskets.

Presentations at the Indiana Robotics Conference (IRC)-- Annually we participate in a conference for all Indiana FRC teams and possible future teams. These workshops are designed to help all teams in Indiana and cover all areas of FIRST. Our team mentors and high school students put on workshops of their own in areas of expertise.

TEI (Technology Educators of Indiana) State Conference Presentation--The team has organized workshops and materials for the teacher mentor, Mr. Florence, to present to technology education teachers. This workshop inspires teachers to start FLL, VEX and/or FRC teams. Team 461 has been involved in these presentations for 3 of the last 5 years.

PLTW (Project Lead the Way) State Student Conference Presentation--This year our team was asked to present and demo FIRST robotics. Student prepared materials and robots to show at this conference. There were about 250 high school students and teachers in attendance during the presentation. PLTW and FIRST have the same goal of engineering inspiration.

Educator's Program at the Boilermaker Regional--This year 461 is again presenting a workshop at the Boilermaker Regional Competition. Educators from around the state of Indiana will learn about the FIRST message and participate in hands-on activities with LEGO Mindstorm Kits.

FLL and Vex Team Mentoring--OurFLL teams have grown from 12 students four years ago to 80 students today in grades 5-8. High school team members mentor FLL students. We have also established a VEX team this year with 15 freshman students. Several students later joined the FRC team, showing that VEX can be a good stepping-stone between FLL and FRC.