Tons of Happenings For The Astros

by dantvman on November 4th, 2009

The month of October was extremely busy for Team 241. The team continued training new members with their "20 minute seminars" taught by mentors and veteran students. Subjects covered everything from mechanics and robot building, to communication and researching, and also things like how the build season is run, how a competition works, and how FIRST is run over all.

On October 31st, The Astros traveled to Manchester Memorial High School to compete in River Rage 13. The competition was not only fun, but also helped the new team members get a good idea of what FIRST is about. The team wanted to use River Rage as a teaching tool for some veteran members as well, so they allowed students who had never driven the robot before to get a chance at taking the robot out on the competition floor, with a good level of success. The all rookie drive team was able to win two out of their three matches. This driving experience will be very valuable for the coming competition season.

The Pinkerton Academy Board of Trustees announced recently that they will be granting the Robotics Team [$]5000 to cover the cost of going to competition. This is great news for the Astros and they would like to thank the Board of Trustees for their generous support as the team continues to bring pride to the Academy.

Finally, the team is in the home stretch in preparation for the inaugural NHTechfest. The Astros are working to make sure that all of the exhibitors expectations are met, the concession stand is fully stocked, and that the general public knows about the wonderful event planned. The Trebuchet contest has 12 teams hailing from all over New England ready to compete in the apple throwing contest. There will be 35+ groups represented at the event ready to spread the word about Science Technology Engineering and Math(STEM). Team Mentor Scott Kukshtel and Team Alumnus/ Junior Mentor Dan Pelletier will be on WGIR 610 AM's morning talk show "Tech Talk" to discuss and advertise the event from 8:30 till 9:00 on November 6th.
For More Information on NHTechfest, please visit www.nhtechfest.org