STACKING LAYERS II - 3D Printing & FIRST

I took a group of team members to Stacking Layers back in February of 2014. You can read about it on a previous post here. I've stayed in contact with the organizers throughout the past year and was recently asked if we would be up for being featured at Stacking Layers II. Of course we accepted as this is a great way for our team to share what opportunities 3D printing has afforded us.

I took the idea to my students and they got right to work on coming up with a plan for the video. We reached out to Brayden, our alumnus who is studying at the Air Force Academy and happens to be the inventor of the FANTASTAKICK. We gave him some talking points and he sent us some great footage to add to our video.

We presented our video at a recent school board meeting where I also shared the success of the FANTASTAKICK. While we are not able to attend Stacking Layers II due to scheduling conflicts, we hope they have another successful symposium and continue to support 3D printing.

The successes you see and hear about in this video show just how amazing FIRST is. The impact this program has had on our school, students, and community goes far beyond what anyone can measure. I am so thankful to be the coach of this team and that we have garnered so much support since our inception in the 2011 season. It's hard to believe that we are about to reach the end of our 5th build season. I am very excited about the success my students have experienced and look forward to seeing just how far this takes them. I've seen the amazing impact of FIRST in our community and can only imagine what I'll be looking back on another five years from now. Please check out our video and help us spread the word by sharing our YouTube link.

2014 Orlando Regional

It was another successful build season for GET SMART. We now have our fourth regional under our belt. CHIEF performed very well, as did our drivers. We seeded in the top 8 to become alliance captains for the finals. We teamed up with Chaos (1421) and Octopirates (3502) and enjoyed working with both teams. Gracious professionalism all around. And since a picture is worth a thousand words, I'll leave you with some photo highlights of competition.

Team Spirit

Mayken & Dr. Westra, ready for day 1

Check out alliance #7

Botley came to the Orlando Regional

Display of our awesome graphic design work over the years

Pit at competition

Bumper Captain awaiting his turn with the bot

Tim & Shawn putting bumpers on in preparation for our first match

Stacking Layers @ FSU

A couple weeks ago I took seven of my seniors to Stacking Layers, a 3D printing symposium at Florida State University. It was a fantastic day for us all. We learned about the different areas of study 3D printing is impacting and how it is changing the world. There were quite a few printers working away while we were there and we were able to see them in action. The presenters were dynamic and kept us on the edge of our seats. We even shed a few tears when we learned of a little girl and her 3d printed "magic arms." We learned about the software programs Rhino and Grasshopper and were all drooling over them by the end of the session.

Harris from Lulzbot was very informative and we enjoyed talking with him.

I enjoyed watching my students interact with the exhibitors and presenters. They were great representatives of Columbia High School and were actively engaged the entire time. We brought many new ideas back to school with us and I'm sure this trip will have a lasting impression on us all. In fact, the organizers were so excited to see high school students at this event that they pulled me aside and gave me a bit of fantastic news: they were going to send us a Cube 3D printer. Then, after the Rhino presentation, they decided to give us that software as well. They were so entertained by my students' reaction to the Rhino demonstration they worked out a way to give us that too.

Cube

I was surprised and entertained by the artistic side of 3D printing. We saw toys and even pottery being printed before our eyes. The wide variety of printing material was also interesting.

3D Printed Pottery ... who knew?

Bendable Wood

It was an amazing day with some awesome students and I'm so glad my principal supported my idea of taking this group to Stacking Layers. I hope this event becomes an annual thing so I can take another group next year. I love seeing the faces of my students light up with possibilities when they learn about new technology and applications. This is a great group with a bright future and I hope this day will stand out for them when they think back to their senior year. I'm pretty sure I saw sparks of the "I know what I want to do with my life" variety.

You can see a video montage Rhino Fab Studio put together here. Look for the GET SMART shirts near the end. :)

We visited the stadium after the event.

3D Printed Brain Gear

Meet CHIEF

Well folks, we did it again. I'm so proud of this team. This is definitely our best machine yet. We finished the bot early enough to get some decent driving practice in and we are hoping that pays off at competition.

Championship

Hope

In

Engineered

Form 

We had a little fun after bag & tag. Can you see what we spelled?