CBNA's Robotics Club to host 50 teams at VEX Robotics meet: Education news
Coe-Brown Northwood Academy’s ‘Ursa Major’ Robotics Club to host 50 teams at VEX Robotics meet
NORTHWOOD — Seven years ago, in direct response to growing interest in robotics by students and parents from the school’s sending communities, Coe-Brown Northwood Academy started its first official high school Robotics Club. CBNA faculty member Scott Goelzer was assigned the task of developing a program, choosing a competition platform, and collecting the components necessary to build the robots.
Goelzer first sought advice from friends and mentors within the academic and science community, including then-Pembroke Academy science teacher David Kelly. Kelly, who passed away in 2022, was widely known as the “grandfather of robotics” in New Hampshire. A dedicated teacher of more than 30 years, and a passionate advocate of the value of robotics as an educational tool, Kelly was the founder of Robotics Maker Space, LLC in 2018, the recipient of the FIRST Robotics Competition Woodie Flowers Award in 2009, and the VEX Robotics World Championship Teacher of the Year Award in 2013. He recommended that Goelzer choose the VEX Robotics platform for its student-focused approach and affordability.
In that first year, there were seven kids on CBNA’s single team, all working on the same robot. Today, CBNA’s club, now known as Ursa Major, or Big Bear after the school’s bear mascot, has grown to an impressive seven teams that compete in the high school level VEX Robotics VRC tournaments, each with two to three students working on a team robot.
VEX Robotics markets itself as, “educational robotics for everyone” where “VEX solutions span all levels of both formal and informal education with accessible, scalable, and affordable solutions.” The VEX platform encourages problem solving, creativity, leadership, and teamwork and strives to create opportunities for students to develop critical and computational thinking skills, perseverance, learning from failure, and a better understanding of future employment opportunities across world markets. As the VEX website says, “Educational Robotics Opens Minds.”
The Coe-Brown Ursa Major teams now have two faculty advisors, Scott Goelzer and his wife and fellow CBNA faculty-member Joanne Goelzer, and two alumni coaches, Cordelia “Cordi” Norris from the CBNA Class of 2020, and Nicholas “Nick” Burleigh from the CBNA Class of 2017. Both Norris and Burleigh were there when the CBNA program first started, and both say that robotics has influenced their education and careers.
Coe-Brown Northwood Academy will host the club’s 3rd ever in-person VEX robotics tournament this year, an event where, as Goelzer puts it, “Students validate their efforts and connect with students of similar STEM interests from around the state.” The tournament will take place at Coe-Brown Northwood Academy, in the Gerrish Gym, from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 4. Please go to 2022 Coe-Brown Academy New Year Tournament : Robot Events for a complete schedule. The tournament will feature more than 49 teams from 15 schools hailing from three states. The event is free and open to the public, and spectators are welcome to come and enjoy part or all of the day.
Goelzer notes, “The competition robotics lab has become a ‘school home’ for many of the participants at Coe-Brown and the tournament simply wouldn’t happen without the help of fellow CBNA faculty members Greg Samuel who coordinates our many volunteers, Tiffany Thompson who organizes concessions and refreshments for guests and participants alike, and Jill Forward who manages the fundraising raffle. They have done a tremendous amount of work to support this effort.” CBNA’s robotics program is actively seeking financial support for their club. Interested in becoming a sponsor of CBNA’s Ursa Major teams? Please contact Scott Goelzer at sgoelzer@coebrown.org or call 603-942-5531.
Hampton School District proposes $26.8 million budget, encourages residents to attend deliberative session
HAMPTON — Superintendent Dr. Lois Costa would like to share information about the proposed operating budget for the Hampton School District for the 2023-2024 Fiscal Year.
A deliberative session is being held on Monday, Feb. 6 at 7 p.m. in the Hampton Academy Auditorium, 29 Academy Ave, regarding the proposed budget and other district warrant articles.
The session will provide residents the opportunity to learn more about the warrant articles, ask questions, debate and propose potential amendments. It will also be broadcast live on the district’s YouTube Channel. To visit the channel, click here.
The proposed budget for the fiscal year 2023-2024 budget is $26,809,604, which amounts to a 1.05% increase from the default budget. Should voters not approve this budget, the default budget is $24,541,165, which is equal to the current year’s budget, with adjustments required by previous actions of the district or law.
Additionally, the proposed budget would result in an increase of $0.30 per $1,000 of assessed property value on town property tax bills.
During the deliberative session, residents also will learn about warrant article two. Warrant article two asks residents to allocate $300,000 to continue long-term maintenance, repair and modernization work at the Marston and Centre Schools. The district proposes annual allocations to preserve the buildings to ultimately protect taxpayer investment in the properties, and upgrade funds for the 2023-2024 year which would cover improvements to support compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act district-wide, as well as phased LED lighting upgrades and roof repairs.
Warrant article three relates to fund balance retentions and asks residents to adopt the revisions to RSA 198:4-b, II, which allows the district to retain up to 5% of the District’s net assessment in any year. This requires no new taxes to the voters/residents of Hampton.
Warrant article four asks residents to allocate $57,503 to support child benefit services for students who reside in Hampton and attend Sacred Heart School.
Warrant article five is a citizen's petition that calls for funds to not be dispersed or redistributed to any private, charter, or religious school or institution.
Voting on the warrant articles will take place on Tuesday, March 14 from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Winnecunnet High School Dining Hall, 1 Alumni Drive.
More information can be found here.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: CBNA's Robotics Club hosts third VEX Robotics meet: Education news
