Welcome to The Revolution! As we rev up for our 25th year of competition, the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year has yielded promising results in promotion, recruitment, and member training. With an influx of underclassmen members and frequent modifications to the revamped lab space, we had a busy several weeks ahead of us.
RECAP
Meet the 2023-2024 Leadership
Our 2022-2023 Leadership made decisive cuts to this year’s leadership through contractual agreements and heightened expectations for leadership members. This year, meet our outstanding 12-lead lineup for the FIRST® Crescendo Season:
General Manager- David A. B’25
Manufacturing Manager- Jameson C. B’25
Manufacturing Lead- Charlie K. B’25, Yvonne C. B’25, Cole W. B’24
Programming Lead- Lauren L. B’25, Julia S. B’24
Design Lead- Rydar J. B’24
Outreach Lead- Sol S. B’25
Business Lead- Santiago Q. B’25
Marketing Lead- Mac D. B’24
Scouting Lead- Griffin L. B’24
Outreach and Volunteering
Back-to-School Night On September 13 was Bellarmine's Back-to-School Night. We had a great time serving cookies and coffee to parents while showcasing Rainmaker 23. Thank you to parent Ms. McEntee for providing the coffee, and shout-out to our rookies Adam A. B’27 and Simon Z. B’25 for participating in our first school outreach event!
Rainiers STEM Night On September 22 was Cheney Stadium’s Rainiers STEM Night. Along with our sister team SOTAbots 2557, we presented FIRST® programs and opportunities to interested students and parents. Thanks to Cheney Stadium for this opportunity, and shout-out to our leadership members who volunteered at this event.
Prospective Family Game Night On September 29 was Bellarmine’s Prospective Family Game Night. Along with other co-curricular activities, we had a blast showcasing the diverse student activities to prospective Bellarmine families and students. Shout-out to our rookies Cole J. B’27 and Keirnan M. B’27 for stepping up at this outreach event!
SUBTEAM HIGHLIGHTS
Manufacturing
Charlie K. B’25 demonstrating the intake mechanism to Manufacturing rookies Tristan C. B’27 and Logan A. B’27.
Manufacturing, managed by Jameson and led by Yvonne, Cole, and Charlie, had much success in tool certification and introducing rookies to principles of engineering. Besides teaching over half of the rookies the basic power tools, much was achieved in Weeks 1-2. After reorganizing the tool chests and introducing a prototyping challenge, more newbies were certified on the chopsaw, bandsaw, grinder, sander, and drill press. Late into Week 2, many of our rookies finished their prototyping project using a wooden intake mechanism.
Early into Week 3, rookies were introduced to the basics of electrical engineering through crimping. Our leads switched around two groups to get practice in electrical as well as pop riveting. They initiated the second prototyping project through improving intake and in-bumper storage. In Week 4, after making much progress on the road case innards over the weekend.
Programming
Lauren L. B’25 and Programming Mentor James Taylor preparing the tank drive for rookies to drive.
In Week 1, before introducing several rookies to programming principles, Programming Co-Lead Lauren acclimated rookies with tool certification, assigned them laptops, and got them set up with Slack. VSCode, and GitHub. Co-Lead Julia ran lessons with the returning members, focusing on the Lion’s Roar t-shirt cannon drive base. They both continued their progress into Week 2 and got libraries installed for each freshman.
Moving into Week 3, Lauren continued progress with programming the tank drive base, and soon got the rookies to drive it and understand connections between the radio, RoboRIO, and motor controller. With the returners, Julia looked into AprilTag code and engaged members to write pseudo code for it. As of Week 4, Julia started diagnosis on the radio with the returning members and visited the practice field while Lauren started up the rewrite repository with the rookies.
Design
Rydar J. B’24 assisting Gabe A. B’26 and Carter W. B’26 with their assemblies.
Design, led by Rydar, got much done in the Week 1 sessions. Freshmen were introduced to the principles of design and got started with integrated Solidworks tutorials. After making small updates to the CAD workspace and printer shelves, Rydar introduced rookies to a 3-D printing challenge involving a phone holder design. They continued progress into Week 2 while returning members Carter W. B’26 and Connor M. B’25 worked on a super cart with a built-in jack and lexan storage cubbies.
Moving through Weeks 3 and 4, Rydar diagnosed and fixed the CAD space’s CR-10s pro and continued giving individualized projects to Carter W. B’26, Gabe A. B’26, Connor M. B’25 and Brad S. B’25. He collaborated with mentors to continue work on t-shirt cannon designs, shelving and storage, the CNC cage, upgrades for the CR-10s, and installing 3-D printer upgrades.
Business and Outreach
Sol S. B’25 and Tony G. B’24 making progress on the 2023-2024 budget spreadsheet.
Sol and Santiago, our duo of leads for Business and Outreach, delegated a few Fall grant applications to returning members Carter M. B’26 and Marie W. B'26, as well as drafted and sent emails to Philomathea and Bellarmine’s Board of Directors. This growing team gained an understanding of the Sustainability Award and Plan, the Impact Award, and the importance of outreach. Rounding out Week 2, they organized our participation in the Rainiers STEM Night and other school outreach events.
Returning members in Week 3 got our team registration finished, finalized the comprehensive team budget spreadsheet, and contacted initial prospective sponsors– grants for Haas, Fabworks, and Tacoma Steel were finished. In Week 4, Business Mentor Kristine Grace returned to the lab to meet the rookies and discuss grant applications with Santiago. Besides coordinating a meeting with the board, Sol hopes to complete the year-round outreach plan.
Marketing
Warren N. B’27 gathering inspiration for a promotional poster for our garage sale.
Marketing Lead Mac continued to introduce his six new members to softwares Canva, Figma, and Premiere Pro, and trained them on photography and some post-production. Each aspiring rookie soon developed their interests in the marketing space; Claire S. B’27 and Amy S. B’27 took up the mantle of team photography, Adam B’27 began work on video production, and Jojo C. B’26, Warren N. B’27, and Chase H. B’25 drafted mockup promotional designs for the program.
All with separate streamlined projects by Week 3, our visionaries reviewed and augmented our year-round marketing plan, establishing a full content queue. Mac continued into Week 4 creating Instagram post templates using Figma while returning member Antoinette D. B’25 introduced Claire S. B’27 and Amy S. B’27 to basic videography and uploading content to TikTok.
Scouting
Griffin L. B’24 demonstrating SQL code to Arshan A. B’26.
Scouting lead Griffin collaborated with mentor Stephen Shimshock on combining data validation processes into a consolidated application. The two also ideated establishing a "SQL school" to provide ongoing SQL language training to new members. Griffin and Dr. Shimshock further worked to resolve technical difficulties related to shortcut positioning.
During Week 4, Griffin reviewed event logistics, including contingency plans for loss of cellular or internet connectivity, with Dr. Shimshock. They also initiated efforts to standardize identification numbers on scouting forms. Griffin continued troubleshooting the shortcut issue with rookie Arshan A. B’26. Over the course of the week, he also ran a scout training session and prepared for another one the following week.
General Management
David A. B’25 explaining to our Business and Outreach rookies the team Sustainability Plan.
Entering his year of running General Management solo, David delineated many logistical processes during meetings for the team to follow, such as Slack discussions and regulations, Engineering Notebook entries, Clockify hour tracking, and participation in school outreach events. David put these systems in place throughout Weeks 1 and 2, in addition to advancing the layout of our website, frc360.com.
General Meetings in Weeks 2-4 broached a range of topics that familiarized rookies with FIRST® competition, team history, workspace conduct, and leadership dynamics. In addition to collaboration with Outreach Lead Sol and Program Director Joy Taylor to execute and document outreach events, David organized off-season event transportation and started integrating team information into MyBellarmine. At the end of Week 4, he published this blog!
FEATURE: THE ROAD CASES
During several sessions outside of the school schedule, members in Manufacturing worked with our Manufacturing mentors to install our innards for our pit road cases, newly purchased from Fabworks. These additions to our pit space will allow for efficiency in load-in/load-out, accessibility in between matches, and aesthetic-usability throughout competition. Check out some of our progress!
Upcoming Events
Club Fair On October 9th will be Bellarmine’s second Club Fair of the school year. If you’re a Bellarmine student, make sure to check out our booth during 6th period to learn more about the robotics program.
Off-Season Events Team 360 will be attending the Girls Generation competition at Tahoma High School hosted by FRC 2046 Bear Metal on October 21-22 and the PNW Block Party competition at Henry M. Jackson High School hosted by FRC 2910 Jack in the Bot on October 28-29. We are excited to connect with fellow PNW teams and introduce our rookies to the exciting atmosphere of FIRST® Robotics Competitions!
SOTAbots Workshop On November 18, Team 360 will be attending the workshop of our sister team FRC 2557 SOTAbots at the Science and Math Institute in Point Defiance Park. We hope to join other local teams in exploring facets of engineering through teaching and attending robotics sessions. Thanks to our friends at SOTA for hosting this event.
FIRST® LEGO® League Competition On December 3 we are hosting another FLL competition for elementary and middle school students to demonstrate their application of engineering and advance respect for the FIRST® community. If
you’re a parent, we invite you to participate as a competition judge, queuer, or check-in volunteer! For more information, contact the volunteer coordinator and our Program Director Joy Taylor.
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