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 Spartronics Welds! By Kinsley Griffith Senior Spotlight! Spartronics is proud to shine out spotlight on another senior who will be graduating this year. This week we want to focus on Audrey Benson who is one of our mechanics captains and who has been with us for four years. Audrey has continuously worked hard on our robots throughout their time in mechanics. Audrey has also helped construct the shed which is an important storage space that we all are grateful to have. If you ask anyone on the team they will all agree that Audrey is one of the hardest workers on the team and this is definitely something they can harness when pursuing their dream career in Mechanical Engineering. We all wish you luck, Audrey!  Marketing Subteam Interview! By Ethan Brixius and Cole Trenchard We are going around to each subteam and learning about what each team does and what stands out. This week we interviewed each other in the marketing subteam. Q: “What are the functions of marketing? If you weren’t here, what would be missing?” A: “Well, first and foremost, you would be missing the money to build the robot, because that’s one of our vital functions (where we get the funds) to build the robot. I mean, like, that’s what having a marketing team is all about. You need to be able to get the funds to complete the robot.” Q: “What are the most difficult challenges marketing has solved?” A: “We had a pit that we had to replace because it was falling apart at the seams and we were able to handle that quickly.” Q: “What is Marketing’s favorite snack during meetings?” A: “Definitely, chocolate chip cookies.” Q: “If marketing had a mascot, what would it be and why?” A “I’d say we’d be the wise owl because we feel very knowledgeable about marketing and we really help the entire team out, by getting the funds for the robot.” Q: “How does your subteam showcase the team’s personality and achievements?” A: “Our team captures the team spirit, and we’re able to get photos of people doing what they do and get those out into the community, and that’s really helpful for community outreach and getting people to realize what Spartronics and FIRST are all about.” Q: “What is your most successful outreach event or campaign?” A: “Ooh, I’d say the walkabouts that we conduct at the beginning of every year, because that’s a lot of what we do to get funds for our team, and it’s also a fun way to get to know people on the team preseason. Walkabouts are going out into the community and asking our sponsors if they would like to re-up their sponsorship, and seeking new sponsors. It’s an quite effective way of getting more funds to build the robot because most of our sponsors support us year after year.” Q: “How do you decide what makes a great social media post or flyer?” A: “Well, we kind of have to take a bunch of things into consideration with social media. It’s really important to think about, like, what people want to see like we’ve thrown a bunch of ideas around, but we keep what sticks with people.” Q: “What’s the skill you have learned on this subteam that you didn’t expect?” A: “In-person or personal marketing. I expected this to be like a majority of social media, but there’s a large amount of interpersonal, like face-to-face communication. I think I’ve learned a bit more about that, and it’s really helped my skills in that area.” Q: “If your could could create a slogan for this year, what would it be in life?” A: “We are going to Worlds!”Thank you so much, Cole. Keep reading to learn more from a different subteam next week! Subteam Updates Mechanics and Design:Mechanics began assembling bumpers for our robot. Mechanics also began building the undercarriage of the robot. Students also learned how to weld so that they could finish the final part of the practice field. Design was embedded with mechanics but focused on building the climber part of the robot. This is very crucial because the game requires the robot to essentially hang on a swinging stand.  Programming: Programming students individually worked on their assigned subsystems. Programming also worked on creating auto code for the autonomous section of the match.  Electronics:Electronics worked on a designating where electronical parts will be laid out inside the robot. For programming purposes and mechanical purposes it is very smart to plan ahead to find the most optimal position. Business + Marketing:Marketing posted on our social media accounts, so please scroll down below to see where you can follow us!Marketing worked on our Impact Award submission as well as our Woodie Flowers Award submission where we write about a special mentor who has helped the team during the season. We went over our sponsors and donations. If you want to sponsor or donate to the team, you can learn how to do so here, and if you’d like to become a mentor in any of the above sub-teams, please reach out to Coach Austin Smith (afsmith@bisd303.org).As usual, we started this newsletter and took photos, asked interview questions, and recorded video.  |
Spartronics
Spartronics