On June 14th, C.O.R.E. 2062 went to the Salvation Army to prepare and assemble lunches for the program Feed the Kids. We then went to a local park, and helped distribute the sack lunches to students in need. We served over 110 healthy lunches to students who were not in school, and therefore not able to receive free or reduced lunch.

On June 2nd 2012, C.O.R.E. gathered together for our annual banquet! A great time was had at Dematic.  We were excited to have our sponsor Dematic provide space for our banquet.  We dined on a spaghetti dinner brought by mentors and desserts provided by team members. We presented awards to both mentors and students, and said goodbye to our seniors who we’ve shared four great years with! Overall, a great time was had by all.

Members of C.O.R.E. 2062 walked for Melanoma on May 20^th. There were a lot of people that participated in the walk and we were glad to be a part of it. One of our mentors is a Melanoma survivor and we were proud to march with her. It took place at the Milwaukee Zoo and so as we walked we were able to see the animals. Also, it was hot and so drank plenty of water. The walk was fun and we are happy to help with the Melanoma cause.

On May 3rd, 2012, C.O.R.E. volunteers spent a day giving FLL, FRC, and VEX demonstrations to students and parents of Hillcrest Elementary School. The students and parents asked questions and learned about robotics, and what it is like to be on C.O.R.E. As well as learning, the kids had fun driving VEX robots and even got to shoot baskets with C.O.R.E.’s FRC robot.  In all, there was plenty of learning and fun had at Hillcrest Math Night.

On Saturday,  May 5 over 18 members of C.O.R.E volunteered to help at a MPTV auction. Some of our members took calls from bidders and entered their bids into the computer. Some members also worked behind the scenes to set up displays of the items being auctioned off. Lastly, many members helped present items on TV. All in all, people had a great time and we got the good name of C.O.R.E out there!

STEM for Girls is an event in which girls are introduced to careers involving Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. The venue for the event was Waukesha STEM Academy, Saratoga Campus. Girls in 6th-8th grade from all over the city were invited to the event. After an hour of free time to wander around and visit any booths that they pleased, each girl received a schedule that told them what three specialized booths to go to. There was a wide variety of choices ranging from tech advice to speakers in the STEM field. Girls were exposed to many aspects of STEM. This event was empowering and revolutionary in showing young ladies that they can succeed in careers related to STEM.
C.O.R.E. 2062’s role in this affair was hosting one of the many booths. Girl’s from all different subteams on C.O.R.E. talked about being a teenage girl and enjoying the fun of applying their skills to robotics. They discussed what it is like being on the robotics team and how to balance this and any other extracurriculars with the other aspects of high school. They also talked about how everyone has a place on the team, even if they are not interested in the actual robot.   CORE takes pride in having a balance team with girls and boys taking active, valuable roles.

In April C.O.R.E. 2062 will be attending the International FIRST Championships in St. Louis, Missouri! We are slightly nervous, but optimistic about our chances. 34 team members will be attending the competition. Look for us in the Newton division of teams.

From April 27th to the 30th, C.O.R.E  2062 competed in  FIRST’s National  Championship Competition!  In our Newton division there were one hundred teams.  Although we did not win Newton division we did place 25th.  One of the highlights of the event was when our robot scored 4 balls in autonomous!  It was exciting to watch the best teams compete on Einstein arena.  However, something much bigger happened. We won the Underwriters Laboratories International Safety Award! This means that we have the best safety program out of 400 teams! It was a fantastic experience for the entire team.  This was a memorable experience for the team.

Several C.O.R.E. members attended take your child to work day at GE.  We presented about FRC and we showed our animation.  Parents and children played with VEX and FRC robots as well as looked at the set up of an FLL table. At the end of the day, several parents said that driving the robots was their favorite part of the event.  April 12, 2012.

On March 22^nd-24^th, 2012, our team went to the Wisconsin Regional. We were the recipients of multiple awards.  We also won the Gracious Professionalism™ Award, which is awarded to the team who represents FIRST in the most positive light.   Another of the most prestigious awards, Dean’s List,  is awarded to only two individual students.   One of our mechanical subteam leaders, Annalyssa, is a  Dean’s List finalist. This award is presented to students who exemplify the ideals of FIRST.  There was no better person to represent our team and FIRST than Annalyssa. In addition to that, we also placed in the top 3 for Safety and 10 other awards.  In the actual competition itself, we were ranked 14^th. We made it to the semifinals with our alliance that consisted of team 868, TechHOUNDS and team 2039, Rockford Robotics. In the semifinals, we lost in a terrific battle against team 48, Delphi E.L.I.T.E., team 2826, Wave Robotics, and team 269, CooneyTech. This alliance eventually went on to win the regional. The regional was not only fun, but a great learning experience for all of us, and we will use the knowledge we’ve gained to do even better at internationals!