Monthly Meeting highlights. Our new Treasurer is tuning up our bookkeeping (the fiscal year wraps June 30th). The Communications Director is looking into the use of the Band application for some team communications. The AHS Robotics FTC team is working on demo bots and a remote manipulator (telefactor or waldo). The FLL Challenge season is wrapped except for team participation at the upcoming Ice Cream Social. FLL Explore Fall teams are wrapping up with a Festival at the Ice Cream Social; some FLL Explore Spring teams are kicking off, BUT we do not yet have enough coaches for all of the students who want to participate (can you help?). A fundraising restaurant takeover is being planned for March 30th (stay tuned!). The next monthly meeting is on Monday 3/16 at AHS.
Upcoming Team Events. The Ice Cream Social for all ARBC-supported teams from this season is Sunday, March 22 and will include an FLL Explore Festival, demo bots, paper rocket launch, and more (including ice cream). Elementary Outreach at Island View is Thursday, February 26th; we think Fidalgo will be sometime in April; we don’t know of a Mount Erie STEM night/science fair for Outreach there. Remember! All student team members should wear their teamwear at any team event (parents, please help them remember). For more details on these events and others, visit the ARBC Home Page and view and/or subscribe to our calendar.
On Outreach. The purpose of our community outreach efforts is to maintain sustainability for robotics programs that by their nature see student team members move up and on every year. We need existing team members to help recruit new team members. In addition to STEM/science nights at the elementary schools, we use the Waterfront Festival, July 4th Parade, and Open Streets to get the word out.
Help Wanted. If you see the value in having these robotics programs available in Anacortes, please consider helping us keep them going. Even if you can only lend your support to a single event or activity, it is of tremendous benefit. See the new “Help Wanted” page on our website for more information.
The Last Word. If anyone wants clarification of any newsletter item or has a correction or suggestion, contact me. I’ll make editorial corrections to the online version of the newsletter if needed.