Robotics team at Churchville-Chili selected for President’s Circle

FIRST Robotics Churchville-Chili Team 340 members Mike Starke (l-r), Shawn Bennett, Congressman Thomas Reynolds and John Lawniczak with the robot at the regional competition held at R.I.T.

Team 340 in action at the regional competition held at R.I.T in March.

Robotics team at Churchville-Chili selected for President’s Circle

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) founder Dean Kamen, creator of the Segway, and FIRST President Paul Gudonis challenged high school robotics teams to submit a two-minute video via You Tube to share how they inspire others in science and technology, and if accepted as a model team, join the President’s Circle.

Churchville Chili Team 340 accepted the challenge and submitted its video. Team 340 was one of only 20 teams worldwide chosen to be part of the FIRST President’s Circle. There are more than 1,300 FIRST teams across the globe. Team members will share their ideas on how to inspire others in science and technology with the founders of FIRST, who are educational leaders from MIT, and corporate executives from Motorola, Xerox and other leading technology companies. The team will travel to New Hampshire for a meeting with Kamen, and the student members of the 19 other President’s Circle teams to share best practices for inspiring students in math, science and technology.

Churchville Chili Team 340 has helped create three other FIRST teams in the Rochester area, mentored seven Lego League Teams each year for elementary students and most notably created a second FIRST Robotics team for first year students at CC Senior High School. FIRST Robotics Teams 340 and 424 are sponsored by Bausch and Lomb.

In addition to engineering two 140 pound robots for local and national competitions the team members also perform community service projects. This year the team has volunteered at Foodlink and the Ronald McDonald House. Members have collected food items for local food cupboards, held bottle and can drives and signed on to raise funds to build a family’s first home with Habitat for Humanity. “By working with other FIRST teams in our area, we believe we can make a difference in the lives of others through science and technology,” said Katherine Jackson, 2007 graduate and mentor. “We will not only raise the funds for the Habitat House, we will also help build it. It may take us years to do this but we are committed to making a difference. As a team we do not need to raise funds to compete and build thanks to our sponsor Bausch and Lomb, so we decided to give back to our community.”

Students attending Churchville Chili ninth grade academy and the senior high school are encouraged to learn more about Teams 340 and 424. Students interested in computer programming, photography, electronics, marketing, robotics or engineering should contact teacher Team Leader Jason Rees at jrees@cccsd.org or attend an open house at the Churchville Chili MST to learn more. Parents interested in mentoring students are also welcome. For more about FIRST Robotics, check out www.usfirst.org and Team 340, check out www.team340.org.