Thank YOU!!! - ACS - Robotics Club

WE DID IT!!! Thanks to the many supporters!!!

The mission of the ACS Robotics Club is to promote interest in the areas of computing, robotics, technology, mathematics and critical thinking for all student by using fun and engaging technology in a competitive, non-graded environment, encouraging students to view STEM fields as an option later in life.

The Alleluia Community School (ACS) is an independent, fully accredited, K-12 school that seeks to form children for success in college and life beyond.

The funds will be used to purchase new equipment for the ACS Robotics Club in order to learn the skills necessary and have the technology to successfully compete at the local, regional and hopefully state levels. The new equipment and its usage will promote interest in more students.

Our first goal this project is to introduce more students to programming and robotics using new new robotics equipment and the ROBOTC programming language. Our second goal of this project is to prepare students to compete at the local, regional and state levels.

The robotics club had its first meeting November 5th and will continue throughout the year. The competitions will be in April 2015. The robotics club meets every Thursday after school from 3:00 - 4:30 PM where we are using the the ROBOTC programming language (a recent donation) and the online Carnegie Mellon University Curriculum (http://www.education.rec.ri.cmu.edu/previews/robot_c_products/teaching_rc_tetrix_preview/). In early December we intend to have our first competition/demonstration at the full school assembly. We will hold competitions/demonstrations bi-monthly with increasing complexity geared toward the regional competitions at the end of the year. We have four committed mentors and have grown to eleven motivated students that are in need of new equipment to complement the new technology and outfit the teams to compete successfully in higher level competitions.

Success will be defined by preparing teams to compete at the regional competition level. In addition success will be defined by increased membership.

The project is intended to grow to include a middle school robotics club in the near future. Having competitions/demonstrations at the school's assemblies periodically will have a "coolness factor" that will spark more interest at all grade levels in order to generate more interest.

Last year the school started a robotics club with borrowed equipment, technology geared for younger students, and eight excited high school students. The students participated in the inaugural GICAA (Georgia Independant Christian Athletic Association) robotics competition with 2 teams and placed 2nd and 4th.

So when do we need the funds. Doesn't everyone need the funds yesterday? Our program has already begun and we are using the borrowed robots successfully for learning purposes.  In order to compete within our school association we will need to be funded with about $2500 before January 15, 2016.