Robotics Thrill Ride (Part 1, Lancaster)

For the past month, we've been fully consumed with my favorite season of the year-- Robotics Competition Season!  Right after the new year, the First Robotics Challenge is announced to the world and then all of the thousands of teams have the same amount of time to design and built a robot that will meet the challenges in competitions around the globe through the months of March and April.  It's exciting and stressful and full of highs and lows-- a real thrill ride!

Our little school competes in 2 regionals each year.  First up was the Aerospace Valley Regional, way down in the desert of Southern California.  Dave, Delia and I were all able to take a few days off to attend this competition.  The long drive down was SO scenic!  Snowcapped mountains and green, rolling hills dotted with wildflowers will be mental memories I keep of this fun weekend.

Ella arrives at a regional 2 days before matches start.  The team needs to build its pit station, scout other teams, do a whole day of practice matches, and pass many inspections.  On Friday, the play for points began we were there for it!  This year's robot is named Vector (after the math that the team used to build his arm) and he is magnificent!  Vector is possibly the best, most consistently and effectively performing, and coolest looking robot our team has ever built.  They went into their competitions feeling strong and good about probably being at the top of the leaderboard.

Vector's tasks, with the help of his driver Evan and arm operator Ella, were to drive autonomously (using just code) for 30 seconds, pick up cones and cubes and place them on a game board with pegs of various heights (which he did with his one-of-a-kind vacuum intake), and then finish by balancing on a wobbly charge station-- the more robots from your alliance you can get to  balance, the more points!  

Vector never let his CarbonKnights or their alliances down!  He never broke down and he did what he was built to do over and over, racking up impressive personal stats and proving to be a Top 10, maybe even Top 5, robot on the field!

Now the cool and challenging thing about Robotics is that it is a team sport.  You never compete alone, but always in a 3 robot alliance.  The alliances in qualifying matches are randomly computer generated.  Sometimes you are paired with amazing robots and the W is guaranteed.  Sometimes you are paired with weaker robots and you are the only one scoring points, so while you look good, your alliance loses and your ranking drops.  At Lancaster, we were unfortunately a part of more weak alliances than strong ones, so our ranking did not end up reflecting how good we actually were.

(Delia calls this game face picture the Marvel Movie version of Robotics-- "CarbonKnights assemble!" ;)

But, even though we didn't rank as high we had hoped, the team felt SO good about how they were performing and made peace with things outside of their control.  This group of 4 seniors have been in school together since kindergarten and building robots together since 2019.  They've become great friends along the way.  I've always loved their attitude that they were never in it to just win, but to learn and grow and have an amazing time enjoying the experience and each other.

We played 12 qualifying matches over 2 days.  When Vector is not on the field, he's in the pit getting tuned up.  Fun this year was having nearly every team, at both regionals, stop by to admire and learn  more about the infamous "All Carbon Fiber Robot".  The kids loved showing him off!  They manufacture their own carbon fiber in house too, making our team extra unique.  We even grabbed the attention of a film crew creating episodes of Behind the Bumpers for the First Robotics You Tube channel and guess who was chosen to be featured?!  This was a season highlight for Ella and the team!  As they filmed, other teams watched in awe behind the camera.

Another important thing taking place behind the scenes are the many conversations with judges.  They want to know about EVERYTHING.  Over the years, Ella has become the spokesperson for the team because she is so comfortable talking and knows all the ins and outs.  These conversations with judges are what give your team one of their special and coveted awards at the Awards Ceremony.  We're so proud that Ella and her team are 4 for 4 with winning awards at competitions!  Before she was on the team, our school previously won 1 award in 9 years. 

Ella was honored to be chosen as Team Captain this year too.  It's not just a token title!  She had some big responsibilities that required quick thinking and strategic decision making.  She did an awesome job!

Our team was not really in a position to win, but they did do well enough to captain their own number 6 Finals alliance.  This means we had control over who we played with and got to pick the 2 teams we wanted with us.  This was another highlight!  One of the teams we chose was from Switzerland and they were so fun!  They taught us a Swiss dance and gave us Swiss chocolates.  We tried to learn their national anthem.  This alliance had some of the best camaraderie and teamwork that our team has ever experienced.  And this alliance gave us the most exciting match of the whole regional-- a high scoring tie with all 6 robots balancing in end in the Finals!  The entire place went nuts!  We were thisclose to upsetting that 3rd place team, who did go on to play in the championship match against the number 1 team!  We feel like this, more than the ranking, showed just how good we were this year!

Robotics gets your heart racing!  Matches are only 2 minutes long and so they are intense and full of action.  One of the best parts of all this for me is sharing it with the other families from our school in the stands.  We bond over bad calls and thrilling upsets and nail-biting finishes and love and pride for our kids, who are doing things with their robot that their parents barely understand. ;) 

Sure enough, at the judges Awards Ceremony, the CarbonKnights walked away from Lancaster with more hardware for their trophy case!

Our time at the Aerospace Valley Regional was amazing.  This year, the turnaround was quick!  The team returned home from the desert on a Sunday and then left again on Wednesday for Silicon Valley...stay tuned for part 2!

Ella's Senior Pictures

Our good friend Erica, who photographs all the plays and musicals, was up to the task!  When I contacted her and said, "We'd like Senior pictures that incorporate the stage, Ella's robots, and that have a SoCal vibe for her college choice," Erica nailed the assignment!  We LOVE how she captured Ella and all the dramatic and fun sides of her!  (A mini shoot in the robotics lab is still coming because when these were taken, Vector the robot was busy getting ready for competition and wasn't ready to have his picture taken yet ;)

 

A Colorful Spring

This has been one of our strangest springs yet!  Usually about mid-February, the sun starts getting warmer, the temps start hitting 70, and everything begins its beautiful bloom.  This year, winter has stretched on and on, giving us record rain and snow in the mountains and sometimes colder days than our family in Chicago has!  We know better than to complain in our drought-plagued state, but it has felt tiresome and we're kind of over the rain (which is supposed to continue all week-- we're even on flood watch!).

The literal bight side of all the storms is the almost daily rainbows and spectacular sunsets!

 

 

Blossoms and Broadway

Yes, the play was a tremendous highlight of our year and of Ella's high school drama career, but something that made it ever more wonderful was sharing it with Mom, Dad, and Kyle.  They were the most supportive fans, enduring a visit that actually had very little Ella and Delia in it and going to see the play THREE times!  That's about 7 hours of Pride and Prejudice in 3 days!  The play was the priority, but we managed to squeeze good food, good conversations, church, time for them to meet some of our important people, tours of our school and work places, and Jackbox games into the long weekend also.  Here were 2 non-play things that were memorable as well...

     

Mom, Dad and Kyle's first Almond Blossom!  We contacted some friends and got permission to wander around their beautiful, blooming orchard while we waited for the girls one night.  With the storms that have been pounding us lately, many blooms were already on the ground, but I think that makes it look extra pretty-- like snow.

Awesome Uncle Kyle makes a point of taking each of his teenage nieces and nephews on a special trip or outing.  The timing couldn't have been more perfect that Delia's #1 show was playing in San Francisco the weekend we expected these guests for her play.  Delia was positively bursting with joy when she got home from seeing Six and enjoying a fun dinner of her favorite foods, and a whole day of attention and conversation from Uncle Kyle.  She was on the stage one day and in the audience the next-- these were some amazing days for Delia!  

The Curtain Closes on the Class of 2023

Each production is special.  We've done this 15 times now.  Sometimes there are jitters when we know the pressure of a big part.  Sometimes there is unbridled joy watching a big splashy song or dance number.  Sometimes we never even see our kids, because their role is mentor or backstage manager.  But, every single time we take our seats in the performing arts center for a show, we are able to lose ourselves in the story the remarkable actors of this amazing drama program tell us.  This weekend was SUPER special because one of the Seniors taking her final bow was our own.

Saturday, the day of the Closing Show, started out as a sob fest.  Lots of tears at home as it hit the girls they'd never share a stage again.  It wasn't taking much to trigger the tears, so I went into the show feeling more anxious than usual.  But, the kids are pros.  They locked up all those big feelings for a few hours and gave us Lizzie, Mrs. Bennet, Mr. Collins, Charlotte, and Lady Catherine.

   

We hollered for their final bow and cried with Mrs. M. as she prayed a special Senior Prayer of thanksgiving and blessing over them.

After the final show, our director invited anyone in attendance who had ever been in a show with one of the Seniors to come on up stage with them for a picture.  So fun to see and stand between both old alumni friends and younger middle school friends.  The past, present, and future of our school's drama program!

Then, it's time for flowers, hugs, pictures, and parties!

Making this weekend of performances even more extraordinary was the addition of Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Kyle to our row of seats!  What a gift to share these memorable times with them!

One last picture with both girls and Mrs. M.  More tears flowed when she made a before-show speech praising Ella for her leadership and faith and saying she's sad to lose her, but confident a part of her remains in Delia, who shows equally strong character, faith and leadership.  Delia said this made her feel SO PROUD.

Megan, a drama friend since 7th grade (who is now graduated college) came back to this show to support her little drama sisters!  She brought Ella flowers and asked to recreate an old picture from her own last Senior show.  Megan has been intentional about remaining in our lives and we love her.  In her relationships with the younger actors, Delia wants to be just like Megan!

We love it so much that for their last show together they got to play sisters!

And a few pictures of all the dearest friends.

Each show has its own vibe.  This particular cast grew super close.  Though everyone in drama is friends with everyone, sometimes there's just a more special connection, a deeper bond, among a group and this production had that.  When you ask Ella what her favorite part of drama was, what she'll miss most, and what makes her most emotional to say goodbye to, it's not the stage or the applause or the acting...it's the people.  I've said before, drama kids are the Salt and Light.  This amazing company of friends and fellow actors surrounding my kids has done so much to shape and shepherd their characters and gifts.