Outreach
When the Sonic Squirrels aren't building robots - they are building relationships in the community, striving to inspire a passion for STEM and provide service to others.
Here's what we've been up to:
Girls Basketball Concessions Stand
Glacier Peak High School
December 20th, 2019
When we arrived at the event at 5, we grouped at the lunch tables before the stand was unlocked for us. Around 5:25 we were in the stand and trying to figure out what we were able to sell, where our inventory was and how to use the machines in the booth. We found out that there wasn't a sufficient supply of popcorn, so we ended up not selling it, and we had to track down the game manager in order to get change to start up our register. After those few hiccups, we got the stand up and running by 6 o'clock and were able to sell to the people there for the junior varsity and varsity games until a little bit past the end of third quarter when we shut the stand down. When counting our inventory and comparing it to the numbers on the sheet of what was supposedly there initially, we came across a discrepancy where we had about $20 more than we should have had. This was most likely due to the numbers that were prepared for us being inaccurate to begin with. Otherwise, everything went smoothly and we cleaned up without any other problems. Overall, it was pretty successful but could've done with some better planning.
Snohomish North Sound FLL Qualifier Hosting/Volunteering
Seattle Hill FLL Mentoring
Machias FLL Mentoring
Mini Squirrels Mentoring
Glacier Peak High School
August 1st - December 6th, 2019
In June, we sent out an FLL application to the community. We asked that parents be involved with helping keep their child(ren) on task during meetings. Before August, we sorted the LEGO Mindstorm sets in preparation for the season. The game challenge was released on August 1st, so we met for the first time as a team a few days later. We began by breaking the students into temporary groups and having them complete some practice challenges. Next, we guided the students to determine a strategy. From then, we met twice a week, on Mondays and Wednesdays. At the end of the month, we split the students into two teams based on our observations: Mini Squirrels Orange (more experienced) and Mini Squirrels Blue (less experienced). We later renamed these to Mini Squirrels Inspire and Mini Squirrels Future, respectively. We decided which mentors would come on Monday and which ones would come on Wednesday based on availability. Most mentors showed up on Monday, while there were usually too few on Wednesday, so this should be fixed next season. Both teams met both days, but if one was working on the robot game, the other worked on the project. During robot days, the kids worked on individual challenges, building, programming, and testing their robot. During project days, they brainstormed a problem, researched it, brainstormed solutions, sent a community survey to get additional input, and made a skit to present to judges. Throughout these meetings, we gave the students core values challenges. We came close to not finishing the robot and project by the teams' first competition at the beginning of December at Glacier Peak, but they were completed. The teams performed well with the robot challenges, while there was room for improvement in the project section. Neither team moved on to a later competition, but they seemed to have had fun during their season.
Buisiness Trick-or-Treating in Snohomish Fundraiser
Snohomish Washington
November 30th, 2019
During this outreach, members of our team carpooled to Snohomish to talk to local businesses about sponsoring us. We got a brief presentation by Melanie's dad about how to give a sales pitch. We got there, and spoke to roughly 20 business, including restaurants, wineries, and antique stores. We gave them flyers detailing our team, our contact info, our budget, and how to sponsor us (see the business sub-team for the flyer). We made a total of $250.00 and received a coupon for one of the restaurants we talked to, in addition to getting companies more acquainted with our team, with some more potential sponsors who promised to relay the information we provided.
Unified Robotics Mentoring + Competition
SOTAbots Workshop
Point Defiance Zoo
November 16th, 2019
Media, Scouting, and Safety all helped to give 1-hour presentations regarding their respective topics. During times where Squirrels were not giving presentations, we attended roundtables and discussions that we're also given there. Everyone attended a presentation they wanted to and everyone learned something new.
Cub Scouts Robot Demonstration
Shoreline Washington
November 5th, 2019
- Present our robot at a boy scouts meeting and also have them do an engineering challenge
- 6:15- 7:30 PM (meet at school to start packing at 4:30, leave school at 5:00, get back at 8:30, finish unpacking at 8:45)
Microsoft Chili Cook-Off
Microsoft Redmond Campus
October 30th, 2019
Thanks to Jason Reiner, our team was invited to attend the Microsoft security department's annual chili cookoff. Like in previous years, we brought a setup to display our team. Both last year's robot, Yuri, and some of the awards we won during this last season were in that display. Before the chili cookoff began, the people in attendance spent some time going through the Microsoft museum and store. After setting up and returning from the museum and store, students talked to employees about the team. One of the students was asked to help with one of the fundraising aspects of the chili cookoff, throwing sponges at employees, by collecting thrown sponges.
GPHS Homecomming Parade
Snohomish High School
October 18th, 2019
Scouting Presentation to FIRST WA with 3663
GPHS Club Fair
Snohomish High School
October 3rd, 2019
Set up table at lunch to advertise our club to people going around looking at clubs.
Football Concessions
Snohomish High School
September 21st, 2019
There was a good amount of people, any less would have been difficult and any more would have been too crowded. A lot of items were sold.
Lake Stevens Triathalon Volunteering
Lake Stevens
September 12th, 2019
Student Start Up
Glacier Peak High School
August 20th - 21st, 2019
We set up a table in the ASB hallway with awards from the previous seasons, the media laptop, candy, and flyers detailing contact information and meeting times. We also set up Risu with game pieces from the 2018 and 2019 season. The first day we had 13 seniors/juniors sign up for emails with more information. We also had one mentor sign up. The second day we had 19 sophomores/freshmen sign up. The candy that we set out drew a lot of people to stop by and talk to us, but did not convince people to sign up. In total, there were 33 people signed up to receive more information.
Machias FLL
Machias Elementary School
September - December, 2019
Twice a week at Machias Elementry, we mentored two FIRST Lego League teams each of ten kids each. We worked on robots, team building, and real-world problem-solving.
Snohomish Science and Arts Academy (Week 3)
Snohomish High School
July 22nd - 25th, 2019
We make a lesson plan with some challenges for each sensor, and picked which ones we thought we could do and what days we thought would be best. We chose to have the kids build the basic bot and program moving on Monday, ultra sonic sensor on Tuesday, color sensor and medium motor on Wednesday, and a game with 5 challenges on Thursday. We met the kids at breakfast then brought them to the room and split the kids into 5 groups. We had some mini lessons on the front board then let the groups work on whatever challenge we put in front of them. The Squirrels each helped one group for most of the camp. We would have breaks for recess and lunch each day. On Thursday we brought our robot and Hifi to show the kids and then finally saw the performances in the end.
Kla-Ha-Ya Days Parade
Downtown Snohomish
July 20th, 2019
We arrived at the load-up location and waited until the parade started. We handed out candy and buttons to children on the way. Hifi ran across the street and back again many times to say hello to people, including giving high-fives. Many people seemed excited about our team, and it was very fun to drive Yuri down the street. Children loved it when they had an opportunity to interact with the robot. We also held a banner with the team name and logo on it.
Snohomish Science and Arts Academy (Week 2)
Snohomish High School
July 15th - 18th, 2019
We make a lesson plan with some challenges for each sensor, and picked which ones we thought we could do and what days we thought would be best. We chose to have the kids build the basic bot and program moving on Monday, ultra sonic sensor on Tuesday, color sensor and medium motor on Wednesday, and a game with 5 challenges on Thursday. We met the kids at breakfast then brought them to the room and split the kids into 5 groups. We had some mini lessons on the front board then let the groups work on whatever challenge we put in front of them. The Squirrels each helped one group for most of the camp. We would have breaks for recess and lunch each day. On Thursday we brought our robot and Hifi to show the kids and then finally saw the performances in the end.
Alderwood Boys and Girls Club Camp
Alderwood Boys and Girls Club
July 8th - 11th, 2019
We made an FLL like game with 7 challenges for kids to attempt to complete during a 4 day period. We split the kids up into 5 groups (about 3 per group) and each group had 2 squirrel mentors. They each had a core kit and were encouraged to work together to strategize and complete some challenges. We played some games throughout the day and when kids got a little less interested we would play some individual card games. On the last day we brought the robot and Hifi with us and showed of our team to all the kids at their morning assembly and had our competition with our kids.
Field Day
Glacier Peak High School
May 31st, 2019
We had a booth at our field day for fundraising purposes. we sold rootbeer and orange floats for 2 dollars each and made $385 in total. We also competed for and got second place for the winter theme getting us an extra $50 everyone attended there shift and it ran very smoothly.
GP Spring Sports Recognition Assembly
Glacier Peak High School
May 30th, 2019
We gave a short presentation during the spring sports recognition assembly about what our team does and our accomplishments during the 2019 season. Gabe used a slideshow of photos to talk about the team and describe what we do. Dylan and Cole tried to drive the robot around the gym to demonstrate its capabilities, but some technical difficulties mostly prevented this. Katy was there acting as the human player to interact with the robot and assist with setup oh the habitat game elements. Although it didn't go according to plan it was a fun experience and a good way to teach the student body about the team.
Valley View Club Fair
Valley View Middle School
May 24th, 2019
The incoming freshman from Valley View Middle School came to learn about all the clubs our school has to offer and we had a booth where we displayed our robot (Yuri) and had a signup sheet for the new members meeting on the 11th of June. We had approximately 25 students sign up and put down their email on the list.
Day of Hope
Various Areas around Snohomish County
May 18th - 19th, 2019
Rachel: Yard work and landscaping in rural Silver Firs.
Logan: Totem Falls landscaping.
Ethan: Managed the T-shirt booth and food organized.
Madison: Glacier Peak landscaping.
I-Engineers
Imagine Childrens Museum
May 18th, 2019
Basically, we launched cargo and kids catched them. We did so along with playing around with otter chaos' robot.
Night of the Arts
Glacier Peak High School
March 17th, 2019
We began at 3:15 PM by setting up by bringing a table down from the 3rd floor hallway because we thought that the regular lunch tables would be put away and that our tables were unavailable. Both of these things turned out to be false, so we brought it back and set up on a lunch table off to the left of the stage. We brought buttons and lanyards, handouts for the upcoming interest meeting, an email interest sheet, the Media laptop with a slideshow of Hifi playing, and three awards we won this season (Industrial Design, Finalist, and Team Spirit). Behind this table, we hung our two blue banners from this year on the horizontal railing that separates the stage and the concession stand area. Due to a miscommunication, Yuri was initially thought to be nonfunctional because of the radio, so we did not bring any materials to drive or operate it. Halfway through, however, we realized the mistake and attained those things so Yuri could at least be operated. We spent the remaining time showing the arm, beak, and ejector mechanisms to people (mainly children, some adults) and having some kids feed Yuri cargo. More people seemed to gravitate over to our booth after we started driving the robot. Trent also wore Hifi for a time and walked around the gym area. It turned out that the ice vest was not cold, so he had to deal with the heat inside the suit. The final thing we brought was the team flag, which Cordelia energetically waved around for much of the time there. We got one person to give us their email, indicating their interest in possibly joining us next season! As always, the best part of the event was interacting with engaged kids about Yuri and seeing them become excited. Thanks to a group effort, packing up and storing the materials only took about 20 minutes, and we were able to leave by about 7:45 PM.
PNW District Glacier Peak Event
Glacier Peak High School
March 22nd - March 24th, 2019
We once again hosted a Week Four district competition at Glacier Peak. We had the whole team, save a few people, set up and tear down the venue, which was relatively smooth in execution. First on Friday, we concurrently prepared the main gym and commons for the FIRST setup crew, who arrived at 1:00 PM. Next, we helped unload the FIRST truck and set up the main gym area. At about 4:00 PM, teams started to arrive with their robot and pit materials, so we queued them by Little Cedars until they could load in. This lasted a few hours, until the pits closed at 9:00 PM. The next day, we arrived an hour early at 7:00 AM to finish preparing the venue for the teams' arrival. We had several team members volunteer at the event, and some of them were specifically mentioned to us as being very diligent at their jobs. On Sunday, we had a few people help gather and count crowd money for the Change the World fundraiser. Many team alumni and our mentor from last year, John Bottenburg, came to see us compete at the event. Also, we ended up being in an alliance with Jack in the Bot, winning the event, and getting the Judges' Award. Later that day, after the teams left, we took apart the field and commons area, helping to load stuff back on the FIRST truck. We left at about 9:00 PM. The whole event was very fun to host and attend.
Little Cedars Science Fair
Little Cedars Elementary School
March 13th, 2019
We went to the science fair at Little Cedars across the street, so we didn't have to drive there. We brought Risu to show to the children there, and it connected to the Drive Station software, unlike at the Totem Falls Science Fair. It worked this time because we were using an updated version of the software. We also handed out buttons and lanyards to people, and showed one of our Mount Vernon matches on the Media laptop. Several kids asked questions about how the robot worked.
GeekWire Bash Robotics Cup
Century Link Field Event Center
March 7th, 2019
Our FLL team 25930 Mini Squirrels - Inspire was invited to the GeekWire Bash as a competitor in the first annual GeekWire Robotics Cup. At the event, the Mini Squirrels competed with their robot and interacted with other FLL teams. In addition to this, our members in attendance also interacted with the FRC teams in attendance: 1778 Chill-Out and 1318 IRS.
GP Spring Pep Assembly
Glacier Peak High School
March 7th, 2019
This was a very short outreach. It consisted of Gabe and Ryan participating in a game of "musical hats" with the other club representatives during the Spring Pep Assembly at Glacier Peak. This was after the speakers briefly mentioned that we won the Mount Vernon event and host Unified Robotics teams. We were wearing team shirts.
Totem Falls Science Fair
Totem Falls Elementary School
Feburary 28th, 2019
We brought our robot to the science fair and hoped to drive it. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson drove the robot to and from the school. Unfortunately the drive station did not have any robot communications after connecting to the robot network. However, we salvaged the situation by manually moving the mechanisms on the robot, showing kids step by step how it works. Hifi also made an appearance, drawing in more children in the process. Several kids were especially interested in how Risu got its energy. We brought many buttons and lanyards to give out. It was a very fun event.
FRC Field Build Training
FIRST WA Warehouse
Feburary 23rd, 2019
Five of our team members and Mr. Wilson took a district van down to the FIRST WA warehouse to due a practice field build in preparation for the upcoming competitions. All five students learned how to assemble and take down various parts of the field, how to set up chalk lines, and how to pack the field elements. All members wore safety glasses while on the field to practice for when they would be on the field at competitions. While doing all this, they worked together with members of other teams to build their parts of the field.
FLL Semi Finals
Amazon Semi Finals
January 20th, 2019
Mount Lake Terrace Kickoff
Mount Lake Terrace High School
January 5th, 2019
We met at the flagpole at around 6:30 and proceeded to drive to the location. When we arrived we were given a number to a specific room where we could later go to discuss the game with other teams. We sat down in the main area where a projector was set up. We proceeded to watch the live stream taking the occasional photo and after went downstairs and attended business round table where we helped other teams with various business issues. After that concluded we picked up our Kit of Parts and went back to GP.
Basketball Concessions
Point Defiance Zoo
December 21st, 2018
On the 21 of December, the Sonic Squirrels ran the concession stand at Glacier Peak for a basketball game. Three students showed up and were supervised by Mr. Hayashi, one ran the cash register, one tallied what was sold, and the last one handled the hot foods. We had to open a bit late due to a visit by a health inspector, which we passed inspection. It was a relatively uneventful night, picking up a little bit at halftime. Cleanup went quick and easy.
FLL North Sound Snohomish Qualifier
Glacier Peak High School
December 1st, 2018
We hosted two single-day FLL qualifier competitions at Glacier Peak. Setup for the event occurred a day earlier, on Friday. We set up tables in the commons in a U formation for teams, and prepared the gym with the robot fields. Many FRC students from Jackson High School volunteered at the events. Most things ran smoothly over the weekend. There were much fewer teams competing compared to last year, about 20-30 per day. This made the event significantly shorter than the previous year. Several FLL teams we mentored competed on these days. We finished earlier than expected on both days. It was very fun.
Italian Dinner
Glacier Peak High School
November 17th, 2018
The Sonic Squirrels hosted a dinner fundraiser on the last night of the Glacier Peak Drama program's fall play, "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying". We partnered with them to sell tickets to both. We advertised two options: 1. the Italian dinner + the fall play or 2. just the Italian dinner. During the event, we set out tables in the Commons and equipped them with tablecloths, utensils, napkins (folded into flat triangles), plates, cups, and squirrel/acorn decorations in the center. We cooked lasagna with the options of meat, vegetable, or gluten free. Salad was also prepared. When guests arrived, everyone had specific jobs assigned to them. People were greeted and shown to a table, while others took their orders and picked up food from the kitchen. After the main dinner was over, Mr. Blair announced the Dessert Dash. It was an activity where we started with a large amount of money to buy a dessert and progressively lowered the value until people bought it. All of the proceeds went to our team, so this was the section that really got us money. By the end of the event, we had made $11,400, a new record for this event! This is a huge portion of our funds for the year, so the event was a great success. In addition to this, we talked to people about the team when we could. One big thing to take out of this is to communicate better next time. There were a lot of people who were confused sometimes and didn't know what to do, even if they were acting professional in front of the guests. This probably happened because the last time this event was hosted was in 2016. Overall, it was a very fun and productive event.
SOTAbots Workshop
Point Defiance Zoo
November 17th, 2018
We gave an hour presentation on 2930's guides to Branding and Imagery and then opened the rest of time up for a questionnaire. We then continued to attend two other presentations about Media and Marketing. We left around noon due to our own fundraiser that we hosted.
Football Concessions
Redmond Microsoft Campus, Building 109
November 3rd, 2018
We ran one of the two concession stands at Glacier Peak's playoff game at Veteran Memorial Stadium. The other stand, run by the Band, had a lack of people, so two of us went over to help them. Everything ran fairly smoothly; the most busy part was during halftime. We closed early in the Band station because of a lack of customers and popcorn/pizza. More items were sold than the amount we thought would be sold.
GPHS Homecoming Parade
Veteran Memorial Stadium at Snohomish High School
October 19th, 2018
We took part in the Glacier Peak Homecoming Parade during the halftime of its Homecoming football game, where clubs were allowed to present a display. We brought Risu and had it drive down the track while carrying a Power Cube. The robot battery had to be switched once before we started driving, because we turned it on too long before. We got several questions and compliments about our robot after the parade. August drove Risu to and from the event, and Brain O. took pictures from the stands. We were able to show fellow students a portion of the outcome of our work, and hopefully demonstrate how fun it is.
Microsoft Chili Cook-off and Tour
Redmond Microsoft Campus, Building 109
October 17th, 2018
Once at the Microsoft building, we were given a tour through the visitor center by some of the Microsoft employees. This tour gave some of the basic history of the past of Microsoft, what's being worked on right now in Microsoft, and what Microsoft hopes to achieve in the future. We then got to test out some of these technologies. After that was over, we setup our display, demonstrated what our robot can do, and talked to the Microsoft employees attending the chili cook-off about what our team stands for, is working towards, and how they can get involved with FIRST.
SHS Club Fair
Snohomish High School
September27th, 2018
On this day the Squirrels participated in the Snohomish High School Club Fair, where clubs from the school congregate into the gym to display what their clubs are about. The team brought Risu Squee, the robot from the 2017-18 season, buttons, and flyers to hand out. Risu was driven to SHS by Mrs. Chavin's van with the help of Mr. Wilson. The robot and supplies were stored in the basement of D building while not in use. The event was held during panther period. Team members started by setting up their booth and the robot. Students from the school then poured in to view all the clubs. Risu was not driven, only staged for safety reasons. Many came around to look at the robot and to ask about it. Buttons and flyers were not as popular but were still given out. After the fair had ended, club members cleaned up the booth and returned the robot to the basement of D building. After school the robot and supplies were driven back to GPHS by August. Overall, the event was successful, with no major issues, and we had about 5 people to sign up for the upcoming Tuesday meeting at GPHS.
GPHS Club Fair
Glacier Peak High School Commons
October 4th, 2018
We participated in Glacier Peak's club fair by setting up a display of what our team is about during both lunches in the commons. We brought Risu, on the other side of the hall from our table, the programming laptop, 2018 buttons, and flyers telling about meeting times and contact information. By B lunch, the laptop had ran out of battery, and we weren't near any outlet, so it was put away. A poster saying "Robotics Club" was taped to the front of our table. Our time was spent talking with students about what our team does, and handing out flyers to people who were interested. In the end, one person gave their signature for email reminders, but we were able to connect with many more.
Lake Washington STEM Fair
Lake Washington High School, Kirkland WA
September 22nd, 2018
We went to the Lake Washington STEM Fair, which was hosted by code purple team 5827. We helped code purple inform people about our teams, FRC, and FIRST. We showed off our robot, gave out buttons and lanyards and talked to those people interested, and got a tour of team 5827's shop.
Football Concessions
Concession stands in Veteran Memorial Stadium at Snohomish High School
September 21st, 2018
The Sonic Squirrels were in charge of both concession stands at the football game on the 21st of September, at Snohomish High School. This meant we had to have about six people in each one, which for the most part allowed us to operate smoothly. Before the game, we were given instructions by the people supervising the stands. Generally, each person had an individual job to do, such as serving pizza. In one of the stands, a cash register was broken, so we only used it to store money when the lines were getting long. A few people asked who we were, and we explained our club briefly. The busiest part of the game was probably around halftime. Afterwards, we scooped the extra popcorn into a large trash bag and donated it to a student. It was fun to interact with the community, and gain some fundraiser money at the same time.
Student Start Up
ASB Hallway in Glacier Peak High School
August 21st-22nd, 2018
We set up a table in ASB hallway with the media laptop, Risu, and some flyers detailing upcoming meetings and Peak Performance. We also wrote this information on a poster that was put up behind us. The first day was more difficult than the second, because most of the students walking by were Juniors and Seniors who had probably already heard about the club several times. Nevertheless, we (mainly Max) managed to convince about seven or eight people to sign up for email reminders. On the second day, many more people stopped to talk to us and ask questions. This was mainly made up of Freshmen. Hoping to draw more attention to the video of Match 60 at the 2018 Glacier Peak competition, we turned the volume on. The announcer's commentary made more people look at it than before, prompting more questions. In total, there were about 20 students who gave their emails, with twice the amount of people on the second day than the first.
Boeing Family Day
Everett Boeing Facility
August 19th, 2018
The Bear Bots and us as well as an FTC team (417?) and a FLL team worked a booth together at Boeing Family Day in Everett. We gave out all the buttons and Event Passes we had a lot of flyers. We ran Hugo with the Bear Bots' Arial Asist Robot in a roped off area and the FTC and FLL robots where on display and some kids where allowed to play with the FLL robots. Hifi got to walk around and got so many hugs and pictures. For once we didn't even break the robot.
Mini Maker Faire
Seattle MoPOP
August 18th-19th, 2018
We had a booth at the fair where we showed off our robot and answered questions to visitors and other makers. Hifi walked around the fair to get pictures with the kids and some of the other people in costumes. It was very crowded so most of the time we didn't drive the robot around but we did drive it around a bit in an open space at the end of the day when it was a little less packed. There where some other FRC and FTC teams near us at the Fair as well.
Summer Academy Week 4
Centennial Middle School
July 21, 2018
We hosted the week four Robot Revolution camp at Snohomish Summer Academy. We broke the kids into 6 groups and they worked on the activities set aside for us with the mindstrorm robots. First they built the bot from the instructions, then we introduced the programming by having them try to go exactly 217cm forward using the rotations function. After that we introduced sensors, with some activities designed around the ultrasonic sensor, and finally we worked with arms in an FLL inspired game with ping pong balls. At the end we showed off Risu to the kids and explained to the a little about FIRST, FRC, and FLL. Most of the kids had a great time, behaved well, and hopefully learned a lot.
Snohomish Book Café
Snohomish
July 21, 2018
We arrived at the load-up location and waited until the parade started. We handed out candy and buttons to children on the way. Hifi ran across the street and back again many times to say hello to people, including giving high-fives. Many people seemed excited about our team, and it was very fun to drive Risu down the street. We also held a banner with the team name and logo on it, and anyone not carrying anything made sure to dance when they heard familiar tunes. This also occurred when there was no music playing. Hopefully we were able to familiarize people with our team.
Kla-Ha-Ya Days Parade
Snohomish
July 21, 2018
We arrived at the load-up location and waited until the parade started. We handed out candy and buttons to children on the way. Hifi ran across the street and back again many times to say hello to people, including giving high-fives. Many people seemed excited about our team, and it was very fun to drive Risu down the street. We also held a banner with the team name and logo on it, and anyone not carrying anything made sure to dance when they heard familiar tunes. This also occurred when there was no music playing. Hopefully, we were able to familiarize people with our team.
Summer Academy Week 3
Centennial Middle School
July 16-19, 2018
We worked as helpers for Caleb Eleffson, a teacher at Snohomish High School, in his summer academy class called Robot Revolution. There, we aided elementary/middle school students for four days while they built and programmed Lego Mindstorms. In the class, there were seventeen boys and one girl. The kids were divided into six teams of three each on the first day, and were given various challenges for their robots to complete. In addition to class time, we supervised the students during breakfast, recess, and lunch, in that order. On the evening of the third day, the summer academy hosted a Family Night, where parents or relatives of the kids could come and see what had been accomplished in the classes. Trent and Ryan set up a station for this event, and showed people (mainly children) how to use and program a Lego Mindstorm robot. On the third and fourth days, August helped a separate class that was programming with Scratch. Some students did very well with the challenges, while others struggled more. Overall, it was a really enjoyable event where we got to teach them about STEM and how it can be fun.
Boys and Girls Club
The Alderwood Boys and Girls club
July 9-12, 2018
For four days we taught kids from third grade through sixth grade engineering skills, programming, and sportsmanship. We helped the kids make and use Lego Mindstorms to accomplish task we created using FLL board, map and game pieces. We also showed off our robot and mascot to all the kids in the Boys and Girls club.
Field day Fundraiser
Glacier Peak High School
June 1, 2018
We set up a table outside the commons and sold root beer floats during the school's Field Day. We made a plan for there to be rotations of three people at a time working at the stand, each rotation being about twenty minutes long. Unfortunately, Madison was the only one there with a food handler's permit, so she stayed at the table for the full hour and a half. Also, about halfway through, Hifi came out to greet people, and even signed some yearbooks. 253 root beer floats were sold, and 270 tickets (each worth one dollar) were collected. It was very fun, as we got to connect with the entire student body for a change.
Valley View Club Fair
Glacier Peak High School Auxiliary Gym
May 25, 2018
We participated in the presentation of Glacier Peak's clubs to incoming freshmen from Valley View Middle School. We were given a sign-up sheet for them to give their names and emails. We brought Risu and Hugo, which may have been a mistake, because we had limited space at and around our table. The media laptop played one of our Glacier Peak matches on replay, which was used to help describe what competitions are like. Max gave a brief description of our team to the eighth graders, and Taschen photographed throughout. Also, many buttons were distributed. There were three shifts of students that came, and we were able to talk to them about the club and answer questions. By the end, we had about 30 total people list their names, and about 20 people sign up with their emails. It was a good recruiting opportunity.
Everett Children's Museum
Everett Children's Museum
May 19, 2018
The 4512 BearBots and us were in the discovery lab at the museum and the kids had a lot of fun. We worked really well with the BearBots, they brought two smaller robots that the kids could drive, and we had the repaired Risu playing fetch with them. We had a lot of parents that where interested in FIRST and we were able to get their contact info so we can email them some more information. Overall it was very successful, the kids had a lot fun, we got great photos, we got to interact with 4512, and we informed the community about FIRST.
Night of the Arts
Glacier Peak High School
May 17, 2018
We set up a table and small area in the Glacier Peak cafeteria, and drove Risu around during the school's Night of the Arts event. During the first part of the night, not many people stopped to watch, and we were asked to stop driving the robot while people were performing on the stage next to us (we were too loud). However, towards the end of the event, many people came to watch Risu and ask us questions. At some point during this portion, too much pressure was put on the VersaFrame intake crossbar, and it snapped completely apart between two brackets. On the bright side, we got to talk to many children, and Risu got to interact with them as well. It was a good outreach.
Robot Rally
Snohomish Library
May 12, 2018
Risu was brought to the Robot Rally at the Snohomish Library! We had some interest, as there were other robots that also took kids' attention. Team 2903 the Neo-Bots was also there, and we worked together to stack cubes on top of each other. The Neo-Bots also caught a cube we dropped midair! We took a picture of Hi-Fi reading a book about squirrels while we were there.
Shoreline STEM Fair
Shoreline Community College
May 5, 2018
Overall, the event went really well. There were 3 other FRC teams present, 949, 3070, and 7118. We had a minigame in which we did a relay race, which went really well for us, and we were able to do a cube exchange maneuver that we call the Wolverine-Squirrel maneuver.
Special Olympics WA Snohomish Track and Field Event
Snohomish High School
April 29, 2018
This was a very informal event relative to most others we participate in. Cordelia wore Squirrel attire and was a results runner, sending the information from races to the awards booth. Ryan was a marshal, and led divisions to and from their events. It was really fun to watch each event; everyone competing put in great effort. We also got to interact with the competitors and other volunteers, which was a highlight. Each person was very enthusiastic and friendly, and it was a joy to be a part of.
Totem Falls Science Fair
Totem Falls Elementary School
April 18, 2018
We brought Hugo and Risu to show to children and parents at the science fair. Many children seemed interested in the robots, and interacted with us. Adults did this as well. We managed to hand out a LOT of buttons, and talk to people about what FIRST is and what the Sonic Squirrels do. Several kids were so engrossed with the robots that they repeatedly moved toward them, even when Risu tried to herd them away to a safer distance. In addition to this, Trent, Ryan, and Mr. Hayashi judged some of the students' science projects. We possibly gained a lot of interest from the younger audiences, so it was a very fun and productive event.
Preview the Peak
Glacier Peak High School
February 22, 2018
We joined other clubs and teams from Glacier Peak in setting up tables to show incoming freshmen what the school community is like. We brought the Steamworks robot and drove it through the commons, as well as the Power Up competition robot, which stayed in its bag. Hifi walked around the room, greeting people with high-fives. Overall, we were able to talk to many incoming students, hopefully gaining interest in the process.
Phillips Day
Phillips Healthcare building in Bothell
February 21, 2018
We went to the Philips Healthcare location in Bothell for their Engineering Day, where various FIRST teams in the area set up booths and displayed their robots. Later in the day, Matthew O'Donnell, a bioengineering professor at the University of Washington, gave a presentation on engineering. After this, the teams returned to the gymnasium where the booths were set up and participated in a competition to create the most effective hydraulic system using some simple parts. For the record, Gabe's team won. During the beginning of the day, we talked to several teams and individuals about the Sonic Squirrels. This event was a great way to share our robot and spirit with others.
Future Ready Education Expo
Valley View Middle School
January 10, 2018
This event was hosted by our school district to support a levy which would increase school funding for technology. For this event, we brought 3 robots. Our 2017 robot, Aluminati's 2017 robot, and a robot from an offseason build project from earlier that year. Overall the event went very well. We did have to take the main breaker off of the practice bot for the Aluminati robot, however other than that, the event went very smoothly.
Boy Scouts Robotics Merit Badges
Horseshoe Grange, Snohomish
November 6, 13, 20, 27, 2017
We went to Phillip's former Boy Scout troop to teach them the robotics merit badge. Over the course of four weeks, we taught them three of the seven requirements that we could: Safety, Industry, and General Knowledge. The remainder were up to them to build and test a robot, go to a competition (we plugged our Week 4 event), and research a few careers in the industry.
Microsoft Chili Cookoff
Microsoft Campus
October 26, 2017
We arrived at the Microsoft Campus in the morning. We then were taken on a tour of the Cyber Defense Operations Center (CDOC). After that, we set up our robot to display during the cookoff. The department hosting the event had multiple crock-pots of chili. The employees were all very interested in what we did, talking to us extensively about FRC, FIRST, and our team.
Student Start Up
Glaicer Peak High School
August 23-24, 2017
We manned a booth at our school's start-up days to raise interest and awareness for our team. Our "booth" contained two posters, and an interest form for students to write their name, grade, E-mail, and Phone number. By the second day we had added small quarter sheets with team info on them, as well as and FLL sign-up sheet for younger children, and even a couple videos running on the Media Laptop.
Summer Camp
Alderwood Boys and Girls Club
July 24-27, 2017
Over our four days at the Club we helped to coach 5 teams of students in a FLL-esque robot game. Throughout the week we taught the kids about Cooperation, Gracious Professionalism, Programing, and Teamwork, even having some time to play a few fun games. On the final day of the week we brought in our Steamworks robot and our mascot Hi-Fi to visit the club. By the end of the week the winning team was nothing but obvious, with a score in the quadruple digits, Team Work, came out on top despite having only 1 member.
Skyfair
Flying Heritage and Combat Armor Museum
July 22, 2017
We got there far earlier than we needed to, which ended up working out because then some of the docents came over and talked with us. During the event, many people came and talked to us. The kids loved putting the gear back in the robot. Our robot was seen to wave at the kids by opening and closing the gear mechanism, which was enjoyed.
Kla Ha Ya Days
Snohomish, WA
July 15, 2017
We arrived at the load-up location and waited until the parade started. We handed out candy and buttons to children on the way. Hifi ran across the street and back again many times to say hello to people, including giving high-fives. Many people seemed excited about our team, and it was very fun to drive Risu down the street. We also held a banner with the team name and logo on it, and anyone not carrying anything made sure to dance when they heard familiar tunes. This also occurred when there was no music playing. Hopefully we were able to familiarize people with our team.
Field Day
Glacier Peak High School
June 13, 2017
We sold root beer and orange soda floats at our school's
field day Friday June, 13 th . We were outside and we were
able to speak with many students at our school. We
gained lots of interest during this time.
Little Cedars Science Fair
Snohomish, WA
March 15, 2017
We brought our practice robot to the Little Cedars science fair to show off and educate students about what FIRST is all about.
Frank Wagner Science Fair
Monroe, WA
March 14, 2017
We brought our practice robot to the Frank Wagner science fair to show off and educate students about what FIRST is all about.
Robot Display
Totem Falls Elementary School
March 14, 2017
We brought our robot to the elementary school near our high school. We showed some of the pneumatic operated functions of our robot as well as some driving. We also brought our mascot Hifi to the display and he was able to meet and greet some of the children.
Curriculum Night
Glacier Peak High School
February 23, 2017
"We were the flashiest set-up; we had music and lights. Showed off the robot until the pneumatics almost blew. Accidentally participated in the flash mob, 
and we did a pretty decent job at interesting future freshmen into joining the team. The robot also went around and bugged the STEM and Drama clubs, because they're cool and we like them." - Clarisse Y.
Jokes aside our team had fun showing possible new school attendees our team and what we do and trying to get them involved in stem.
FIRST Day
Olympia, Washington
January 16, 2017
The Squirrels attended FIRST day in Olympia to meet with members of the house & senate to discuss funding for FIRST. Last year we received $700'000 for FIRST programs and this year FIRST would like 1.5 million to go towards FIRST teams enabling us to start programs at 50% more schools reaching 50% more students. Our appointments included visiting John Lovick, Mark Harmsworth, and Steve Hobbs in their offices to thank them, explain what FIRST Robotics is, and ask for them to support the 3 million bi-annual amount. We met governor Jay Inslee in his office foyer for a photo op as well. We brought our robot and mascot to display FIRST programs to the public.
FRC Kickoff
Mountlake Terrace High School
January 10, 2017
Our team was invited to attend the 2017 FRC Kickoff where the Steamworks game was announced. We met with 10 or more teams and had breakout strategy sessions to discuss in small groups some ideas for how to tackle the game. Brent actually led one of the breakout sessions, and it was a good way to meet with other teams and work on some simple strategic ways to go after this years challenge. Our team's social media challenge video was also featured. Watch it here: https://youtu.be/8y16L8VTgW4
Italian Dinner and a Show
Glacier Peak High School
December 10, 2016
One of our favorite fundraisers of the year, the Sonic Squirrels were host to many family, friends, and community members for our annual Italian dinner. We served salad and pasta while entertaining the audience with stories from the past year. Tables enjoyed gourmet desserts (the best ones going to the table who offered to pay for first choice) donated by generous parents and local businesses. Finally, our guests enjoyed the Glacier Peak's performance of Romeo and Juliet as part of a partnership with the GP drama club.
FLL Regional Event Host
Glacier Peak High School
December 3-4, 2017
This was our third year hosting an FLL Regional competition. We worked side by side with the FIRST WA team to make sure all the kids had a great time. Our team was responsible for set up and clean up of the school, and we provided a number of volunteers for the event. We enjoyed showing the younger kids our robot and encouraged which encouraged them to keep on the path to STEM.
FLL Mannequin Challenge
https://youtu.be/dtYBq_cd11M
Girls Generation
Geek Girls Con
Seattle Convention Center Annex
Saturday and Sunday October 8th and 9th, 2016
We loaded in Saturday with an EV3 Mindstorm to demo it in our booth since there wasn't a large enough place to demo one of our FRC Robots. We spent Saturday and Sunday spreading talking about FIRST as a part of STEM to anyone who stopped by and were interested and passed out flyers with all the information on FIRST Lego League, FIRST Tech Challenge, and FIRST Robotics Competition and if they were an adult, we spoke to them on how they could still volunteer and mentor teams. It was fantastic since on Saturday Reign (an all-girls FRC team) had a panel on Saturday and the Bearded Pineapples (FTC team) and another team were floating around the convention on both days, with a both to demo their FTC robot. We gave out our team pins as well, passing out all of our Recycle Rush ones we had brought and most of the Stronghold pins we had leftover.
Homecoming Parade
October 21, 2016
Chill out round table
September 24, 2016
EMP Mini Maker's Faire
Seattle Convention Center Annex
September 17th and 18th, 2016
Returning to the EMP Museum, we brought our Stronghold robot to showcase the importance of FIRST Robotics to the public. The robot attracted many interested children, many of whom were ecstatic to play with catch. We also explained the programs for younger kids to the parents, and many of them took our handout, which included the dates and locations of upcoming events. Alongside the robot, we had footage from the Glacier Peak event playing, which caught the attention of many parents, and intrigued the passing engineers and programmers, many of whom said that they wished they had a program like FIRST when they were in school. From time to time, Hi-Fi the Squirrel would venture out into the world and inspect the various booths, and even got to ride a 7-ton walking machine!
FLL Washington Kickoff
September 17, 2016
Peak Performance
September 10, 2016
GPHS Startup days
August 23-24, 2016
SkyFair
July 30, 2016
Klahaya Days Parade
July 16, 2016
Alderwood Boys and Girls Club Camp
July 11-14, 2016
Independence Day 2 Promotion
June 24, 2016
Senior Versus Staff Game
Glacier Peak High School
June 7th, 2016
Showing up on the court at half time, we brought the Stronghold robot to attempt to make baskets. The robot was set up to aim, and the crowd was waiting to see whether or not the metal contraption on the court would be able to play basketball. When the first ball made it into the basket, the crowd cheered and applauded, and continued their cheering as the robot continued to score baskets. After the robot finished its perfect streak of baskets, it turned and "waved" to the crowd, and drove off of the court. Afterwards, the Squirrels answered questions from the curious students and adults about the robot, and even questions about robotics in general.
Field Day Floats
June 3, 2016
GPHS Club Fair
May 27, 2016
Day Of Hope
May 14, 2016
Night of the Arts
Glacier Peak High School
May 5th, 2016
Among the art clubs and the fundraisers, we set up our pit. Handing out buttons and pamphlets to three-year-olds and to grandparents we showed off our team to the school's community. The younger ones loved our robot shooting off the boulders, catching them and having them shoot off over and over. Our school loved having us to show the tech side of arts to paint a holistic view of the school.