team 1836: milken knights chairman's book 2016

8/19/2019 Team 1836: Milken Knights Chairman's Book 2016

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Team 1836:

Milken Knights

Chairman’s Supplement 2016


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It is our mission to challenge youth to create a

lasting effect on their community through service

learning, Science, Technology, Relationships,

Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics. Leading all of

us to a brighter future. We do not just build

robots, we build people.

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Team 1836: Milken Knights


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Table of Contents

Quick Facts 4

New This Year 6

Programs 9

Alumni 12

Current Students 19

Awards 23

Women in STREAM 33

Events and Demos 36

FIRST Involvement 45

Sponsors 50

Contact 53

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Quick Facts

2005 2006 2007

Founded So ut he r n C al if or n ia R eg io na l L os An ge le s R eg io n al

San Diego Regional

2 0 0 8 2 0 0 9 2 0 1 0

L o s An g e le s Re g io n a l L o s An g e le s Re g io n a l I sr a e l Re g io n a l

Ch a m p io n sh ip s L o s An g e le s Re g io n a l

2 0 1 1 2 0 1 2 2 0 1 3

L o s An g e le s Re g io n a l Sa n Die g o Re g io n a l I sr a e l Re g io n a l

Ch a m p io n sh ip s L o s An g e le s Re g io n a l L o s An g e le s Re g io n a l

C h a m p i o n s h i p s

M a d T o w n T h r o w d o w n

2 0 1 4 2 0 1 5 2 0 1 6

I sr a e l Re g io n a l I n la n d Em p ir e Re g io n a l L o s An g e le s Re g io n a l

L o s An g e le s Re g io n a l Ut a h Re g io n a l O r a n g e Co u n t y Re g io n a l

Fall Classic Vent ura Regional TBD

C h a m p i o n s h i p s

Chezy Champs

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Achievements

Website Views Across The World

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New this yearDolphin Lap

This year, we have worked to change our team

culture by creating a fun way for team

members to reflect and understand that there

is always room for improvement. Whenever

something happens that is preventing us from

reaching our goals, we ask the team members

to take a short walk to a dolphin statue to clear

their minds and reflect. Afterwards, they return

with a fresh attitude and are even more zealous than before.

Build Blog

To keep our students and parents

updated,this year we started a

Build Blog. In this blog, we post all

things from events that we go to, to

design updates on our robot. We

decided to add this to our program

this year because we felt that we

needed to get all levels of our team

more involved in the process.

Team Huddle

As a team, we interpret FIRST as the

“varsity sport for the mind” by embracing a

team spirit. We open and close each of

our meetings with a team huddle and a

cheer.

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Training

A challenge in the past has been deciding how to effectively prepare new

members. This offseason, our team captains compiled a list of every skill

necessary to participate fully on our FRC team. We compiled these tasks into 3

different categories: green, yellow, and red. Green corresponds to a “beginnertask”, yellow for “intermediate”, and red for “expert”. This system allowed us to

track all team members’ progress, not only ensuring that each team member was

proficient in every possible skill, but also that each and every team member can

point at a part of the robot and confidently say: “I made that.” This training

method is being used by other FRC teams and is even being used as part of a

curriculum that is being developed for students in China.

Guerin Family Institute of Advanced

Sciences

Milken Community Schools helped us secure

a $7 million donation, largely funded by The

Guerin family to provide us with a brand new,state-of-the-art robotics and fabrication lab.

This lab will be used not only for our team

but also to further our commitment to helping

other FRC teams. The facility will also be

open for anybody else in the school to work

on their projects.

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Scrum

As a part of improving our team, we have adopted the Scrum method. Scrum is a way

of creating a team approach to problem solving and innovation. Scrum keeps our

leadership on track to make sure that we are accomplishing all of the goals we set.

Using this method, our leadership created a spreadsheet where the team could keep

track of all ongoing progress. The spreadsheet includes a brief description of the

project, what has been completed, what needs to be completed, and the percent

completed.

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Programs

“Squire-Knight” program

As we have grown, our team has become proficient at finding creative solutions to ourchallenges. In order to improve learning and development with new recruits, we created

the “Squire-Knight” program, which is a key facet of our team. The program connects

fledgling student team members, or “squires,” with a student expert (“knight”), who

mentors and teaches them various skills which correspond to the their interests. This

system creates an apprenticeship style relationship that fosters bonds between team

members and ensures that, when students graduate, critical information is not lost.

Knights check that the Squires are excelling both personally and academically. Because

of this system, our team is more than a team; it is a family.

Team traditions

Two fun team traditions include Ice Cream for Breakfast Day and Pajama Day. These

allow the team members to break the serious atmosphere for a short while which aids in

bonding and strengthening rapport.

Classes

Our school is in love with the FIRST robotics program and has adapted them into

classes. The middle school offers courses in robotics and game design where students

develop lego robots and learn to program in a fun way. The high school offers 2

Engineering classes that teach the same skills learned in FRC to students that may notbe able to join the team. The school offers an AP computer science class and the TA is

our teams lead programer. Many robotics students help with these classes and they

have been developed by our mentors and teachers.

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Subteams

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Potential Sponsor and Mentor Outreach

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AlumniTeam 1836 has impacted the lives of our students in huge ways. These positive

impacts have continued into the rest of their lives. These are just a few of the

amazing futures our program has created--and we are only getting better.

Jonathan (‘13)

While working at SpaceX, Jonathan helped develop a technology that

shields against radiation and micrometeoroids comprised of four layers of

materials which used sensors to provide real time information to

astronauts. It was much lighter than current technology, saving an estimate

of thousands of dollars per launch; contributing to the financial

viability of commercial

space flight. Additionally,

Jonathan presented at

an American Institute of

Aeronautics and

Astronautics convention,

and claimed second

place in the Pete Conrad

Spirit of Innovation

Awards. His mentorsinclude Dr. Edward

Silverman from Northrup

Grumman, a global

aerospace and defense

technology company, as

well as Dr. Dennis Schorr at the USC Business School. Jonathan has

come back to me an active mentor of the team.

Jacob (‘13)

Jacob recently presented at the International Society of Wearable

Technology in Healthcare in the Netherlands. He has been working on an

app that uses advances in wearable technologies to better monitor cancer

patients. He has also met with and presented this concept to Google.

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Jacob spent his summer interning for Optinvent working on next gen smart

glasses in Rennes, France.

Jordana (‘15)

With guidance and support from the team, Jordana was able to create aspecial belt to aid the blind, B.E.L.T. (Blind Enhanced Location

Technology). She was featured in The Jewish Journal, Tribe Magazine,

NotImpossibleNow, and Our Ventura Boulevard Magazine.

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Bernard (‘13)

Bernard was a member of the team for four years. As a team member his

main focus was the electronics of the robot. As a senior, Bernard was

electronics captain and taught future captain Noah how to wire. Bernard

was very passionate about both robots and about teaching youngerstudents. He is currently studying mechanical engineering with a minor in

computer science at the university of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.

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Josh (‘13)

Josh was a member of the team for two years. His main focus was on

videography and filming the team. Josh assisted in the creation of a

number of promotional videos as an upperclassman. Josh also led a team

of students in the Pete Conrad spirit of invitation competition at Johnsonspace center. Josh is currently pursuing a pre-med degree at the

Washington university in St. Louis

Nate (‘10)

Nathan was Team captain during the 2009 and 2010 season and attended

Johns Hopkins University. He currently works at Facebook on the web

speed team focusing on performance. Previously he was on the

notifications team where he launched browser push and worked on a

number of other projects. He completed an internship at Symantec where

he worked with the security

technology and response group

on some of the core

technologies used for

identifying malware. This

involved using machine

learning on large datasets and

optimizing data analysis forparallel computing

environments. While still a

team member mentors helped

him with a Designed research project called OWL, Omni-directional Wi-Fi

Localization, and led research team. Research was completed at The

Center for Embedded Networked Sensing at UCLA. The goal was to create

a GPS like system that could work indoors utilizing GPS and WiFi.

Smartphones were used to create the sensor network.

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Barbara (‘11)

Barbara was a Team captain during the 2010 - 2011 season and went on

to pursue a degree in aerospace engineering from MIT. As part of the

Space System Laboratory at MIT She Designed and built a reusable

battery box for SPHERES satellites on the International Space Station.

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She interned at Aerojet Rocketdyne, working on Jettison Motor team

writing a verification report for the Jettison motor and building a HAR

(Hardware Acceptance Review) support tool. She also was a Systems

Engineering Intern for Mars Science Laboratory JPL (NASA's Jet

Propulsion Laboratory) and an Aerospace Engineering Intern at DraperLaboratory. Barbra received international recognition because she helped

to develop the liquid propulsion system for Virgin Galactic's LauncherOne,

the first commercial spacecraft. She now works at The Boston Consulting

Group and has come back to participate in our team's woman speaker

series and was the keynote speaker at our 2015 FLL Tournament.

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Current StudentsOur mentors provide us with dozens of incredible opportunities that are above

and beyond the traditional FIRST experience. Many of our students have been

placed in research labs and have participated in summer internships because oftheir commitment to our students. “We will let you fall 5 feet not 100” is a phrase

that they often tell us. They are always there to support us and push us to

accomplish things that we did not think that we were capable of.

Team Captains

Austin (‘16) Austin is a team captain and a six

year team member. He is a recipient

of our school’s distinguished

Generous Hearts Award and won the

Volunteer of the Year Award at a

2014 FLL tournament. Austin has

started his own IT support business

in which he provides home computer

and networking installation andconsultation services. Additionally,

Austin featured in a recent issue of Ventura Boulevard Magazine Valley

Teens: 10 to Watch 2016 list.

Michael (‘16)

Michael is in his sixth year on the team and is one of our team captains.

Michael has founded his own

company, EDGE Systems Design,which manufactures CNC Machines for

the consumer hobby market. He is has

been the captain of our school’s

Science Bowl team for two years. He

has also participated in the ASCE

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Popsicle Stick Bridge Building Competition, and the Conrad Spirit of

Innovation Award Contestant.

Daniel (‘16)

Daniel is team captain and a second year team member. He participated inthe International Schools Mathematics Teachers Foundation competitions

in Basel, Switzerland, and Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He has also

worked with mentors to create an algorithm to accurately predict football

statistics.

Miranda (‘16)

Miranda is team captain and in her third year on the team. She conducted

research at the LONI:

Laboratory of Neuro

Imaging at USC for 3 years

and submitted her research

to the 2015 Intel Talent

Search. Additionally, she

participated in the ASCE

Popsicle Stick Bridge

Building Competition for

two years and was acandidate for Conrad Spirit

of Innovation Award in 2012. She is also one of the Ventura Boulevard

Magazine Valley Teens: 10 to Watch 2016.

Team Members Hannah (‘18)

Hannah is second year team member. She conducts research

at The Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology atUCLA with Dr. Srinivasa and was also a competitor at The

2015 Raytheon Engineering Games. She is currently in Israel

partaking in an international program known as the Tiferet

Fellowship

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http://www.milkenschool.org/Page/ACADEMICS/Jewish-Studies/Tiferet-Israel-Fellowship


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Alex (‘18)

Alex is a fourth year team member. He is currently conducting research

with Dr. Ming Hsieh at The Department of Electrical Engineering at USCViterbi. He has participated in Raytheon Engineering Games for the past

two years and was also a participant this year in the ASCE Popsicle Stick

Bridge Building Competition, a Semi-Finalist in the Conrad Spirit of

Innovation, and a member of our schools Shalhevet Freier International

Physics Tournament “Safe Cracking” team.

Jake (‘18)

Jake has been on the team for two years. He is the

founder and developer of Jake Studios, a company that

has developed 4 apps with over 20,000 downloads on the

Google Play Store. This year he was also a competitor in

t h e AS C E Po p s icle S t ic k B r id g e Bu ild in g C om p et it ion

Marcus (‘18)

Marcus is in his fourth year on the team. He was a participant in this year’sScience Bowl and is working on developing a company that custom makes

body boards using a CNC router. He is planning on interning at Will.i.am’s

tech company Puls over the summer. He has already assisted the

company this fall by disassembling and fixing dozens of prototype smart

watches.

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Josh L (‘19)

Josh is a rookie on the team and was a contestant in this

year’s Science Bowl. He has built a hydro and solar

powered car engine and worked with Dr. Sam Gurol fromGeneral Atomics to develop a new form of maglev

transportation that would streamline transportation in

large cities. He has also worked on improving the lives of

young, special needs youth by creating a child friendly

zipper pull that would make every day life easier and he

has worked on managing Parkinson’s Disease through a

glove what would steady shaky hands. Furthermore, he created a

bluetooth controlled toilet that connects to your cell phone for ease of use.

Nicole (‘19)

Nicole is a first year team member. She was a competitor in the 2015

MathCounts Foundation Competition and is the founder of the American

Math Competition club at our school.

Josh G (‘16)

Josh is a sixth year team member.

He has been a participant in the ASCE Popsicle Stick Bridge Building

Competition.

Aidan (‘18)

Aidan is in his second year on the

team. He has participated in the Raytheon Engineering Games and is a

member of our schools Shalhevet Freier International Physics Tournament

“Safe Cracking” team.

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AwardsDean’s List EssaysAustin (2015)

From the day Austin arrived on campus 6 years ago he has been a leader on the MilkenComm unity Schools’ robotics team. At the age of 12, he took responsibili ty for the

pneumatics subteam and helped the MilkenKnights reach the FIRST Robotics world

championships in St Louis. Austin has designed and built complex robot systems but more

importantly, Austin has developed into an overall team leader and has helped to grow the

team. His passion and commitment to Milken’s robotics program and FIRST make him the

most qualified person to be nominated to represent our school for this high honor.

Austin spends his free time helpi ng other students. He loves to teach and share his

knowledge. When he is not helping other robotics teams, he volunteers his time to the

FIRST Robotics League by leading and refereeing local matches. Austin has helped dozens

of local and international first teams and assisted teams in Israel this year via webcast. Withthe support of the i.am.angel Foundation, Austin is also helping to bring robotics to schools

without afterschool science programs. Austin has been recogniz ed for his philanthropy by

his school and community. He was the recipient of Milken’s distingui shed Generous Hearts

Award in 2013 and won the Volunteer of the Year award at a 2014 FIRST tournament.

Austin wants to continue to live on the cutting edge of technology. He is positioni ng

himself to be a part of the future advances in artificial intelligence as they enhance the

integration of robotics into our everyday lives. He has a vast knowledge of several

programing languages. More importantly, Austin has great respect for FIRST and takes the

responsibility of mentoring and helping others very seriously. He wants to become a more

integral part of FIRST and the i.am.angel Foundation so he can inspire children to pursue

careers in the sciences, just as his mentors have done for him.

Last year at a robotics competition in Israel, the host arena suffered technical issues that

suspended the competition. After an hour and a half, FIRST league officials sought Austin’s

help as he has a reputation of being a strong troubleshooter. Austin entered the arena’s

control room, assessed the issue, and fixed the problem within 15 minutes. This story is one

that embodies many of Austin’s qualities. He is selfless, confident, smart, and humble all at

the same time.

Austin has parlayed these qualities into his own IT support business in which he provides

home computer and networking installation and consultation. Austin has grown his

business over the past two years and has a steady stream of new clients that call him to

solve their computer issues including the school! Austin saves the money he earns through

his business venture to help other robotics teams.

Austin is an incredibly calming and motivational role model in the Los Angeles area. Austin

is a dedicated student at MIlken Community School with a 3.5 GPA. His leadership and

passion for robotics are truly inspiring.

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Miranda (2015)Miranda is a young woman with an intense passion for both engineering and leadership.

She is the perfect definition of a Dean’s List candidate. Not only is she working on cutting

edge brain research on infant brain development but she is also a member of the Milken

Community School Varsity Volleyball team and a leader of a community service groupmaking her a well rounded student athlete.

In the last 3 years she has been on our team she has grown in such a wonderful way. being

on this team has helped Miranda find her voice and come out of her shell. When she first

started she was so eager to learn. She has learned multiple programing languages, how to

CAD using Solidworks, and how to use every tool in our machine shop. She has been both

our Cad captain and Mechanical captain and it is truly inspiring to watch the way she works

with and teaches younger students. This team has not only had an impact on Miranda, she

has also created a lasting impact on the team. This summer she worked nearly every week

on CAD and developing a new sub team leadership system and a corresponding curriculum

which would allow older students like herself to teach younger students. Her compassionand willingness to help others have motivated her to do hundreds of hours of incredible

community outreach.

As a member of the school’s social action group, YOZMA (Hebrew for “Initiative”), she

raises money and awareness for hunger and food insecurity in the Los Angeles area. Along

with being a leading member in this group, she also volunteers at various charities which

include Food Forward, where she collects extra food from markets and restaurants to be

donated to those in need. SOVA, another impactful charity, is a food and resource program.

Miranda started her own non for profit company named Beading Strings of Hope to raise

money for these and other noble causes. Even as part of her Bat Mitzvah she raised

thousands of dollars for Share our Strength to fund YMCA school lunches in the summer so

that no kid would go hungry. Lastly, because of her love for animals, she volunteers at The

Saffyre Horse Sanctuary, where she takes care of neglected and mistreated horses.

Earlier this year Miranda was selected to conduct research at the Laboratory of Neuro

Imaging (LONI), at USC. She has been using diffusion MRI images to map neural pathways

and track infant development. Her work could potentially lead to a better understanding,

possible treatment, or even a cure for several neurological disorders.She was shocked when

she found out how little is actually known about the brain and it’s development and she

intends to pursue a career studying it.

As captain of the schools American Society of Civil Engineers Popsicle Stick Bridge

Competition she has already won an engineering scholarship. Her 1 pound bridge held themost weight at 942 pounds. She has also competed in international engineering

competitions in Israel. She is also a member of the Varsity Volleyball team and community

service groups making her a well rounded student athlete.

She has done more in her high school career than many college graduates. Initially, she was

interested in engineering and was accepted as an intern at the Center for Bioinspired

Engineering at the California Institute of Technology working with their development of new

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propulsion techniques. This is where she made the connection between engineering and

biology that has lead her down the path to neuroscience. Miranda is an incredible student

who has challenged herself with AP and honors courses and yet still has a 3.5 unweighted

GPA. Miranda has had such a tremendous impact on our school and community. She just

brings out the best in everyone and she is the perfect role model for our new students to

emulate.

Marcus (2016)M a r c u s B e r n s t e i n i s a n i d e a l c a n d i d a t e t o r e p r e s e n t t h e M i l k e n K n i g h t s a n d M i l k e n

C o m m u n i t y S c h o o l s b e c a u s e o f h i s 7 y e a r s o f F I R S T e x p e r i e n c e , l e a d e r s h i p s k i l l s , d e v o t i o n

t o i n n o v a t i o n , a n d c o m m i t m e n t t o t h e t e a m a n d F I R S T a s a w h o l e . M a r c u s p a r t i c i p a t e d i n

F I R S T L e g o L e a g u e f r o m f o u r t h t h r o u g h s i x t h g r a d e , t a k i n g o n l e a d e r s h i p r o l e s w i t h i n h i s

t e a m a n d i n t h e F I R S T c o m m u n i t y . I n s e v e n t h g r a d e h e j o i n e d t h e M i l k e n K n i g h t s r o b o t i c s

t e a m , w h i l e s t i l l s t a y i n g b a c k t o m e n t o r h i s o l d F L L t e a m f o r 5 m o r e y e a r s . O n t o p o f

m e n t o r i n g h i s o l d t e a m , h e s t a r t e d a n e w t e a m , w h i c h h e p l a n s t o c o n t i n u e m e n t o r i n g

t h r o u g h o u t h i g h s c h o o l . A s t h e y o u n g e s t p e r s o n t o e v e r h a v e a l e a d e r s h i p r o l e o n t h e

M i l k e n K n i g h t s , M a r c u s w a s t h e h e a d o f o u r a s s e m b l y a n d s t r a t e g y s u b - t e a m s i n n i n t h g r a d e .

M a r c u s h a s a u n i q u e a b i l i t y t o k n o w a l o t a b o u t a l l a s p e c t s o f r o b o t i c s , r a t h e r t h a n j u s t

f o c u s i n g i n o n o n e t h i n g . M a r c u s s p e n d s m o s t o f h i s t i m e l e a r n i n g a b o u t a l l a s p e c t s o f

r o b o t i c s , f r o m d e s i g n , t o m a c h i n i n g , t o e l e c t r o n i c s , s o t h a t h e c a n t e a c h o t h e r s . M a r c u s h a s

adopted several younger students on our team as his "squires". He makes it his

r e s p o n s i b i l i t y t o e d u c a t e t h e s e y o u n g e r s t u d e n t s a n d p a s s o n h i s p a s s i o n a n d k n o w l e d g e .

M a r c u s i s h e a v i l y i n v o l v e d i n o t h e r e x t r a c u r r i c u l a r a c t i v i t i e s o u t o f r o b o t i c s , a n d o f t e n t a k e s

l e a d e r s h i p s k i l l s h e h a s l e a r n e d i n r o b o t i c s a n d a p p l i e s t h e m i n t h o s e a c t i v i t i e s . M a r c u s i s

the Director of SPAR debate training on our school's speech and debate team, w orks

b a c k s t a g e o n s c h o o l p r o d u c t i o n s , a n d s t a r t s o n t h e v a r s i t y b a s e b a l l t e a m . H e i s a l s o t h e

t e c h n o l o g y c o o r d i n a t o r f o r t h e b u s i n e s s a n d l e a d e r s h i p c l a s s , o n t h e A M C m a t h t e a m ,

science bow l team and the TA of the engin eering class. Perhaps the most impressi ved i s p l a y o f M a r c u s ' s p a s s i o n f o r e n g i n e e r i n g w a s w h e n h e b u i l t h i s o w n 3 D p r i n t e r i n e i g h t h

g r a d e . O u r s c h o o l h a d r e c e n t l y p u r c h a s e d a 3 D p r i n t e r , a n d M a r c u s w a s f a s c i n a t e d b y i t s

s e e m i n g l y m a g i c a l a b i l i t y t o c r e a t e a l m o s t a n y t h i n g f r o m a s p o o l o f p l a s t i c . R a t h e r t h a n j u s t

a s k i n g h o w i t w o r k e d , h e f e l t t h e b e s t w a y t o p r o p e r l y u n d e r s t a n d o n e w a s t o b u i l d i t o n h i s

o w n . M a r c u s a p p l i e d d e s i g n , e l e c t r o n i c , a n d p r o g r a m m i n g s k i l l s h e l e a r n e d o n t h e t e a m t o

b u i l d a f u n c t i o n a l 3 D p r i n t e r i n l e s s t h a n a m o n t h u s i n g o n l y p a r t s h e h a d a t h i s h o u s e .

M a r c u s ' s 3 D p r i n t e r r e p r e s e n t s h i s m e t h o d s o f u n d e r s t a n d i n g s o m e t h i n g , c r e a t i v i t y ,

i n g e n u i t y , a n d t e c h n i c a l e x p e r t i s e .

T h i s f a l l w i l l . i . a m ' s t e c h c o m p a n y i . a m + r e a c h e d o u t t o o u r t e a m t o h e l p t h e m f i x t h e i r

s m a r t w a t c h p r o t o t y p e s . M a r c u s g a v e u p h i s w e e k e n d t o w o r k w i t h t h e i r e n g i n e e r s o n s o l v i n g

t e c h n i c a l p r o b l e m s a n d a s s e m b l y . H e i s e v e n g o i n g t o b e i n t e r n i n g t h e r e o v e r t h e s u m m e r .M a r c u s i s p a s s i o n a t e a b o u t b u s i n e s s a s w e l l a s e n g i n e e r i n g a s h e s t a r t e d h i s o w n b o d y

b o a r d c o m p a n y . H e h a s a l r e a d y d e s i g n e d a n d m a n u f a c t u r e d h i s f i r s t p r o t o t y p e s a n d i s i n t h e

p r o c e s s o f l a u n c h i n g a k i c k s t a r t e r c a m p a i g n w i t h t h e g o a l o f r a i s i n g $ 1 0 , 0 0 0 . M a r c u s a l s o

d e s i g n e d a n d b u i l t a r o b o t t h a t w a s u s e d i n a m o v i e t h a t w i l l b e r e l e a s e d a t t h e C a n n e s F i l m

F e s t i v a l . T a k i n g l e a d e r s h i p r o l e s i n a n d o u t o f r o b o t i c s , a n d o f t e n c r e a t i n g h i s o w n , M a r c u s

B e r n s t e i n i s t r u l y a n e m b o d i m e n t o f F I R S T i d e a l s , v a l u e s , a n d g r a c i o u s p r o f e s s i o n a l i s m i n

e v e r y t h i n g t h a t h e d o e s .

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Jared (2016)Jared Hasen-Klein has grown a tremendous amount in the past year and is a true leader not

just of our team but in the international FIRST community. He is a true role model for other

students to emulate who leads by example. This is his 6th year in FIRST and his story

begins when he joined FLL team 650 in 5th grade. By 7th grade, Jared took on the role ofteam captain overseeing all aspects of the FLL team including robot game, research project,

and most importantly, core values.

He now gives back to the FLL program in many ways. Tony Ayad, the Los Angeles FLL

Operational Partner had this to say about Jared: "He is passionate and just terrific. He

helped me develop this year's scoring software, he builds field set up kits, he helps teams,

he helps run tournaments. There is nothing this kid can not do." Jared not only helps local

FLL but this year he developed a scoring app used thousands of times by teams all over the

world!

In 9th grade, Jared joined FRC Team 1836 at Milken Community Schools. Jared filled intraditional weaknesses of our team in areas of PR, and business. Currently all non robot

tasks are managed by him. Jared often leads several projects at once including our

rebranding, website design, outreach opportunities, and essay submissions. To him it is not

about what we do but how we do it.

Inspired by his success with his FLL app Jared developed and FRC scoring calculator and

FRC game test, each utilized by over 500 FRC teams internationally -- over 20% of the FRC

program. Jared is incredibly selfless and wants to do whatever he can to help others.

This year mentors pushed Jared to have a larger role in the robot and he has risen to the

challenge. Not only has he learned basic mechanical components but he has become one of

our best machinists. We have an amazing 4 x 8 CNC Router in our machine shop that very

few students know how to run. Jared has learned how to set up, program and maintain this

complex piece of equipment and can now machine all of the plates on our prototypes and

robot.

Now in 10th grade his goal is to get other team members involved in as much as possible

so that everyone can understand that FIRST really is about more than just the robot. Jared

also spends a significant portion of his time working on partnerships with the community.

Over just two years, he has helped our school bring in over $10,000 in donations to the

AIDS Walk Los Angeles; approximately half of that has been from team members. Not only

is the AIDS Walk an important community service event but it also is important in our

community. We represent our team while interacting with other schools, businesses, andmedia. A picture of our team at the walk was seen approximately 100,000 times and used as

the main photo on the event website. Jared is also currently working alongside the AIDS

Walk LA staff to have our program as a featured partner. Jared has organized several other

events as well. Team members were curious about Amazon's inner workings, so he reached

out to Amazon and organized a tour for our entire team.

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Jared is a flourishing example of the impact first programs can have on a child. He is

completely dedicated to this program and our team. He is so mature and responsible that I

often forget that he is a student. I am excited to see the amazing impact he will continue to

have on FIRST and the world.

Chairman’s EssayOur Mission

The primary responsibility of any civilization is to ensure the continuation of its existence.

We believe that innovation is the key. Through education and experience, each student

either is put in a position to innovate in the field of science or is responsible for

disseminating knowledge and helping others into a position from which they can innovate.

To further our mission, we have taken the concept of STEAM to the next level and have

coined the word “STREAM,” adding a new and vital component of the educational process:

relationships. Through STREAM, our team does not just build robots that throw Frisbees or

stack garbage cans, because achieving immediate goals may not always be as important as

the overall mission. We are creating a school where we reach out to students and thecommunity to make science cool and touchable. Students, mentors, and world leaders are

noticing and reaching out to our team to be a part of our movement, and the more people we

inspire, the more innovation we will achieve.

Who We Are

The Milken Knights was founded in 2005 by six students and a single teacher. We competed

in several Israel Regional competitions and achieved a first place finish in the Los Angeles

Regional in 2013. We have competed in the international championship several times as

well. More important than our accolades though, we have grown to a team of 40 active

participants with over 15 sponsors to further the goal of our program to place more andmore people in a position to innovate.

We have implemented two programs to ensure our long-term success. Through our

“Squire-Knight” program, veteran team members mentor new recruits. We also recognize

individual extraordinary achievement through our “Knight in Shining Armor” program.

We have integrated the STREAM philosophy into the educational experience at our school,

Milken Community Schools. Today, over 25 percent of the student body is involved in

STREAM, either through the robotics program or other classes and programs we inspired.

The school and its benefactors have taken notice of our ability to inspire and have invested

heavily in our robotics program. We have doubled the size of our robotics facility and have

helped to build a world-class fabrication shop including a CNC router, laser cutter, cold

saw, lathe, mills, and 3D printers.

We have learned from our four mentors over the past year and have been exposed to a

broader range of technologies beyond robotics. Whether setting up a private tour of the

SpaceX facilities or arranging a partnership with a robotics team in Singapore or running a

robotics camp at UCLA for 50 visiting Chinese students, our mentors provide us with

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opportunities to learn from other people in the sciences as well as the opportunity to teach

others what we know about robotics.

Impact on Campus

We acknowledge that there are many different ways in which students can become inspired

by science. For example, our robotics program supports a creative physics team called

“Safe-cracking.” Each year the team is given a challenge to engineer and build a safe where

the key is solving physics puzzles. The team travels to Israel to compete in a competition

where students from all over the world put their safes up to the test. This provides a great

platform for students to become exposed to and excited by science.

We regularly host open houses at which we welcome students from other schools to tour

our facility and become inspired to build robotics programs at their schools. We have given

over 250 tours of our facility over the past year, including a tour to students from China as

well as to a group of teachers from Israel.

Impact off Campus

As an extension of our work on campus, we have made a tremendous impact by helping

students outside of our school find and develop an affinity for science and technology,

inspiring them to learn, and ultimately placing them in positions to innovate.

One of our top priorities is to promote STREAM in our community and advance FIRST’s

purpose and visibility. This year alone, we reached 70,000 people through the events we

have hosted or in which we have participated; spreading the concept of STREAM education

and recognition through partnerships with numerous local and national organizations.

From running summer camps on our campus to touring schools with our robot toparticipating in technology carnivals and fairs and presenting technology to thousands of

people, we take every opportunity to show the community how excited we are and how cool

science is. Embracing FIRST’s concept of gracious professionalism, we never turn down

another FIRST team’s request for guidance or parts. We answered the call when will.i.am

asked for our help to build a robotics program at a disadvantaged school in the Boyle

Heights section of Los Angeles. will.i.am helped raise money and we provided the expertise,

mentorship, and inspiration to a group of students who had no chance at being in a position

to innovate. Today, their team develops solutions and competes along side us, and will.i.am

continues his mission to inspire and bring STEAM to every community regardless of

economic position.

Our commitment to our community is not limited to robotics-related activities. We are also

steadfast in our dedication to community service. We work with Boy Scout Troops to inspire

education in the sciences. We collect money and food and clothing to help needy families

find warmth and hope. We walk alongside 30,000 people at AIDS Walk LA and are

recognized for our spirit in helping raise money to find a cure, a cure that will come from a

research scientist in a lab who is in the position to innovate a cure for a cruel disease

because he or she was once inspired to follow an education in the sciences.

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Wherever we go and whatever we do is to further FIRST and the umbrella mission of

inspiration and education in the sciences.

Our Commitment to FIRST

We are committed to spreading FIRST’s message. In addition to the 100 street pole banners

that are posted all over Los Angeles highlighting our robotics program, we mentor five FLL

teams and we hosted an FLL practice tournament as well as two FLL qualifier tournaments.

Team members also assisted at five other FLL and FTC tournaments. At the 2015 DARPA

Robotics Challenge Finals, our team participated in a FIRST demonstration. Each year, we

create a game test to help all FRC members learn the game rules. This year alone, over

2,200 people have taken our test from over 500 teams. We also created FRC and FLL scoring

calculators to help understand game strategy, one of which has been downloaded 4,000

times in over 40 countries.

STREAM Success Stories

The learning environment we have created that promotes student and mentorencouragement and collaboration has led to numerous inspirational stories of success.

Each person is successful if he or she subscribes to the mission of either achieving success

by innovating or helping others increase their chances of innovation or both.

Outside of robotics, our youngest programmer, Wolfgang, has been working on cutting

edge DNA research and has presented his work to a doctoral panel at MIT. Wolfgang is on

the precipice of innovation and he is only 12 years old. And, even if he does not innovate,

he understands his responsibility to inspire and encourage others to develop a passion for

science. It is not about individual achievement. It is about the betterment of the community

and civilization. There are countless stories in which current or former team members have

been invited to participate in medical research projects or are developing innovations inspace travel or computer science or even businesses in the technology sector. Graduating

students field offers from major engineering and technology institutions and companies.

The stories are endless, but each one of them is the same. Each one starts with a passion

for science. It is about developing a love for something, whatever it is, excelling at it, and

inspiring others to be excited about it as well.

Our students have been recognized by a variety of different organizations and through the

honor of receiving a variety of awards. Whether we are building bridges out of popsicle

sticks or participating and receiving honors at engineering competitions, our students are

inspired and achieve success for themselves, their teammates, and their communities. We

are inspired by former students who return to tell their success stories. Through the

notoriety of our STREAM program, we have the opportunity to meet with leaders in

technology like Warren Boley, President of Aerojet Rocketdyne. We hosted the former Prime

Minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair, at our school to show him how a successful

STREAM program is implemented and how it inspires our students to learn. We also had

great discussion about some of the technology issues the world is facing, like cyber

security. With the help of Nancy Conrad and Miss America 2014, Kira Kazantsev , we also

reach out to people who are underrepresented in the field of engineering, women, to come

and tell their inspirational stories to our schoolmates. The experience of these individuals

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does not stop with our students. We publish social media campaigns to disseminate the

learnings to others who do not have access to these leaders.

Why We Do It

Simply put, we love it. Given the countless hours we spend building a robot, the “r” in

STREAM could be “robot.” But there is so much more to our story. We love the

relationships that come out of being part of a team, part of a school, part of a community,

and part of the world. We have built great relationships with other FIRST teams and the

relationships are not just team to team. They are person to person. And, even if we do not

win a single competition this year and a particular team from Boyle Heights does, how great

would that be?

Mission accomplished.

Woodie Flowers Essay Since Mark Mascadri’s arrival at 1836 in 2014, he has completely transformed the team froma small group of students to a fully operational team with over 40 members. Moving all the

way from New York to Los Angeles to be our head mentor, Mark often works late nights in

the robotics room to work with his students. No one has been more dedicated to the team’s

success than Mark. Mark is on a first name basis with all of his students, and works hard to

make the team feel like a family. Mark does not build robots, he builds his students.

Through his encouragement, students have created new ways of communicating and

sharing information. Most noteworthy of these programs is the Squire-Knight program. This

program creates an apprenticeship style relationship where more experienced students or

“Knights” take on newer team members or “Squires” and teach them the knowledge they

will need to know to be successful. Squires then pass on their skills to their own squires thenext year. This way team members bond through knowledge and ensure that it is never lost.

New member, Elliott said, “Mark has made it possible for the entire team to not just connect

as teammates, but also as friends.”

A mentor for 10 years, Mark is both versatile and adaptable. Tony Ayad, the Los Angeles

FLL Operational director, said about him, “Mark is the premier Champion of the program

and the most gracious volunteer in the region. He can be the Head Referee at one

tournament, or MC at the next; it doesn't matter if it is FLL, FTC, or FRC.” Mark is very

passionate about FIRST. Mark has worked with hundreds of FLL teams through

competitions, summer camps, and workshops. He has encouraged the team to work with

other FIRST teams. Pushing us to work with other teams has become his priority. Through

his game test, resources, and his commitment to the FIRST community,our team was able

to assist over 500 FRC teams this season with our resources, which is about ⅙ of the teams

in first.

Mark’s impact is not limited to our team and community. It is international. Mark has helped

connect the team to world leaders such as city council member Paul Koretz, Miss America,

and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. With his guidance the team has helped teams in

Israel and has ran an FLL camp for 50 students from China.

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Having started in FIRST as a high school student, Mark understands robotics from both a

student’s and teacher’s perspective. Marcus, a student on the Milken Knights said, “Mark

truly understands how to speak to his students and make them feel valued. He has even

helped me pursue my passion outside of first by helping me start my own business.” Mark

has encouraged students to discover their full potential, rewarding those who go above and

beyond, and introducing new opportunities to those who have yet to find their passion.

Making STREAM fun and exciting, Mark is a phenomenal mentor to kids of all ages and

interests, and everyone on the team is so grateful to have him as the mentor.

Media and Technology Innovation AwardWe have received many compliments on our interactive and frequently updated

website. We would like to provide our award submission for the Comcast Media

and Technology Innovation Award so that we can show other teams how we

maintain our online presence.

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Women in STREAMMiss America

Last year, we started a woman speaker series featuring Miss America 2014, Kira

Kazantsev. Leaders of our teamreached out to Miss America and

arranged for her to present in front

of our entire school. She was shown

the robotics room, where she

expressed her admiration and

excitement at our accomplishments.

She addressed our team and asked

us all: “What do you want to be

when you guys grow up?” We all

responded with different

occupations, ranging from

bio-engineers to game designers. She was curious as to how the robot worked,

and she talked to various students and listened as they explained the functions of

the different robots, how to drive them, preparing for build season, and more.

She left with a smile on her face and 3D-printed jewelry made by our team. She

was impressed by our program and shared our social media campaign about

women in STEAM, which was seen by over 40,000 people around the world!

Mirman’s Women in STEAM Day

Our team went to a local grade school

in order to encourage the participation

of women in STEAM. We were

featured, along with doctors, architects,

and disney animators and presented a

two hour presentation, developed by

the students on the team. The

presentation touched on the achievements of our team and about the importance

of women in STEAM.

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Nancy Conrad

As a part of our Women Speaker Series, we had Nancy Conrad come to our

school and speak to our students about the importance of women in STEAM.

Nancy Conrad is the the founder of the Conrad Foundation, named for her late

husband Pete Conrad an astronaut. The Conrad Foundation runs the Conrad

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Spirit of Innovation Competition, a competition for high school students in which

they submit an innovative product in the fields of Computer Science,

Environmental Science, Health and Nutrition, or Aerospace.

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Events and Demos

LASTNThe LA Science Teacher Network Reached out to our team and invited us to

present at the fall meeting. We not only shared our robots and engineering

achievements but ways in which we spread the FIRST message to the

community.

Heifer International Goat

Our team likes to have fun with our

fundraising. Many jokes were made last year

in first involving Goats and Totes so this year,

our team raised money for the Heifer

International Foundation to purchase a goat for

a family in a third world country.

Recycle Rush Eagle Scout Project

Last year, in the spirit of Recycle Rush, we

worked with Boy Scout Troop 1 to create and

paint trash cans around our school. Thisproject was not only designed to motivate

people to recycle but also allowed us to

strengthen our connection to our school and

community.

Homecoming

We got to share our robot at the Milken Community Schools’ own Homecoming

football game carnival! Students, teachers, and their kids got to operate our 2013

robot Crimson Crossbow, shooting frisbees to a team member. After the fair the

football game began and the whole team cheered and supported our football

team the Wildcats; the football team won by a landslide with the support of

Crimson Crossbow!

Science Fair

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One of our team leaders was asked to be a judge for the 2016 science fair at

Curtis elementary school on 3/2. It is always exciting to see younger generations

foster a love for science and technology. We often represent our school and

robotics program at similar events.

Rockwell Automation Fair

We displayed our robot at the Automation Fair

held by the Rockwell corporation in Anaheim,

California. At the fair, professionals from severals

fields within STEM learned from our students

about our robots as well as FRC. The Milken

Knights not only interacted with STEM

professionals at the fair, but also collaborated with

two local teams, team 3476 and team 271, to

create an intriguing and engaging presentation

about FRC by displaying their robots’ multitude of

capabilities.

International Partnerships

One of our mentors went to Singapore over the summer to run an FLL program

and create a partnership between our schools. Our team was asked to run a

robotics camp at UCLA for 50 chinese students visiting america as part of the Asia-Pacific Robotics Competition. We are now planning on organizing a summer

camp for more chinese students in July.

STEM Day

The Inglewood School Demonstration was an event done to spark curiosity in

middle schoolers' minds. We presented one of our robots and we shot some

frisbees into the crowd (procuring a few oohs and ahhhhs). Many of the students

had great questions and were very interested in the robot. The Milken team had

an amazing time interacting with the younger students and the robot was well

received by the crowd. The Inglewood School had a great time with the

presentation, and we hope they will pursue more opportunities in STEM fields!

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Tony Blair

In the Spring of last year, Tony

Blair, the previous Prime Minister of

the United Kingdom, visited our

shop. One of our sponsors braggedabout our school and program to

him and he wanted to check it out

in person. We not only educated

him on FIRST and our team, but

discussed topics like global Cyber

Security. With our female students,

he also spoke about the importance

of encouraging the participation of women in STEAM. He was very impressed

with our students and our FRC team.

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will.i.am’s Trans4m Gala

Last year, our team was

featured at will.i.am’s Trans4m

Gala for his charity i.am.angel,where we demoed our robot.

The goal of this event was to

raise over a million dollars to

help support youth in Boyle

Heights get exposure to

engineering and STEAM programs. While we enjoyed the red carpet experience

we also had fun with our friends from 4964 The LA Streetbots.

DARPA Robotics Challenge

At the 2015 DARPA (Defense

Advanced Research Projects

Agency) Robotics Challenge Finals,

FIRST asked our team to be a part of

their booth and demonstrate our

robot. Our booth had a large success

rate with about 1,000 people passingthrough and approximately 200

people drove our FLL and FRC

robots at the demonstration. Many

viewers also enquired about FIRST competitions and some even asked about

how to participate and start new teams! Dean Kamen and Woodie Flowers

stopped by and thanked us for all that we did at this event.

Los Angeles Tech Week

LA Tech Week was an excellent experience for the

robotics team. We demoed our robot and had the

opportunity to meet people from various companies

including Belkin, Linksys and a think tank called

Wonka Labs. It was a great opportunity overall for

both for our high school and middle school students

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who learned how to present our project to CEOs and entrepreneurs. Networking

at this event helped us recruit an additional mentor.

Los Angeles Gadget Expo

Our team both attended and exhibited at the Los Angeles GadgetExpo! The LA Gadget Expo is a chance for business and organizations

to present their innovations in the areas of fitness, mobile, family,

transportation, wearable, health, design, outdoors, home, multi-tool,

and everyday carry. We demonstrated our 2013 robot. It was a great

opportunity for our team to network and explore with local and national

inventors and entrepreneurs! Our booth was very popular with both the

public and the press. Because of his Snapchat featured us on the LA

Story section and video of our robot was seen by thousands of people!

Milken Community Schools

Admissions’ Events

Our robotics team has been an integral

participant in four Milken Open Houses

recently. In each, we have displayed our

robot and its functions to all of the parents

and prospective students touring theschool and even let some of the people

touring the school drive the robot. This

further increased many families interests

in attending the school and this is just one

of the many examples of how we have supported our school in exchange for all

of the support that they generously provide us.

Playful Learning Summit

Annually, our school hosts The Playful Learning Summit. Our team uses this

event to display to teachers from across the nation about the success of our

FIRST programs. We share tips and tricks that has lead to our teams growth and

help to start and motivate technology programs in many other schools. Playful

and interactive learning is one the reason why first programs are so exciting and

effective learning tools.

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Interstellar Movie Premiere Event

Team members had the opportunity to meet the President of Aerojet

Rocketdyne, Warren M. Boley. He invited us to come to the premier of theInterstellar movie. We attended the premier and had the amazing opportunity to

watch the sci-fi blockbuster sitting next to a real astronaut. Although a fictional

movie the presenters used this and emerging technologies to motivate and

inspire our students.

Amazon Fulfillment Center Tour

In August 2015, our team toured the Amazon Fulfillment Center in San

Bernardino where

we overviewed

the company’s

processes and

robotic systems

which are

catalysts in the

efficiency of

Amazon. Our

team memberswere able to see

connections

between the

techniques utilized by Amazon and our robotics shop operations. At the facility,

everything is very well organized and this led to increased efficiency in Amazon’s

operations. Thus, following our tour, we decided to clean up our shop in a step to

make our work more efficient.

Book Drive

As the 2015 FLL game involved a focus on education we worked with our fll team

and other area teams to raise over 500 books that were donated. The donated

books barely fit in our mentor’s car! We work to include and work with as many

groups as possible through our outreach as it helps us connect better with the

community.

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MIX

Last year our middle school started the Milken Innovator Expo. It is a year long

opportunity for students to explore a project that they are passionate about.

Mentors and team member consulted on a number of projects and demonstratedour robots during the showcase at the end of the year.

STEAM Night

Wise Elementary school has asked us to bring our robot and team to their

school’s STEAM Night. The event is not until April but we have been working with

the science department to help make this event special. We are very excited for

this event as it will be one of the first with our 2016 robot!

National Robotics Week Demo

With help from a FIRST senior mentor we participated in a National Robotics

Week Demo in Long Beach, CA. We allow many young students an opportunity

to drive and play with our robot at each of our demos. We feel that this does the

best job of motivating and inspiring the next generation.

Food Drive

For Thanksgiving, team members helped out our school’s social action group,

YOZMA, lead by one of our team captains. Students brought in money, cans,and frozen turkeys to school to donate to the SOVA Community Food and

Resource Program.

Nolan Bushnell, Bill Nye, and CSI

Nolan Bushnell, the founder of Atari and inventor of the video game came in to

meet with our students and learn about our program. He had

some fascinating questions and taught us how much

technology has evolved in the past decade. We have also

met with Bill Nye The Science Guy and the cast of CSI.

Celebrities have exposure and influence and showing them

our robot and talking with them about our outreach programs

helps to spread the first message.

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SpaceX

Several of our students were given an

opportunity to tour the headquarters of

SpaceX. SpaceX is a company that

creates and launches advancedspacecraft including rockets. Thus, the

company relates strongly with FIRST

ideals and was a wonderful opportunity

for a select amount of our team members

to see how their spacecraft is created.

Hour of Code Week

Hour of Code is an international movement to teach people how to code in just

one hour. Our school is our main sponsor and we worked with them on this

project, providing every student an opportunity to learn how to code. At Milken,

during lunch students could attend an array of workshops. This included several

lead by our team members and mentors including basic and advanced Java

Programing, Excel, Arduino, and even driving an FRC robot! In this way, we

spread FIRST ideals to the entire school.

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Two-Bit Circus’ STEAM Carnival

At the STEAM Carnival, innovators and STEAM educators from around the world

set up booths to educate attendees about their specialties. Our

team set up a few of our previous robots to show attendees how to

operate, shoot, and drive our robot. We explained how and whyour robots did the things they do. We also acquired our new head

mentor at this event. The STEAM Carnival is inspiring the next

generation of doers, dreamers, innovators and inventors.

AIDS Walk Los Angeles

The AIDS walk is an annual event held in

West Hollywood to raise awareness, help

prevent, and help find a cure for AIDS and

HIV. The Milken

Knights have been

very active in

donating money to

the mission and

have had many

participants in the

actual walk. This was our second year

participating in this event and our team helped Milken raise over $7,000 for thecause which surpassed the school’s goal of raising $4,518.

Milken Global Conference

Annually, members of our team are selected to attend

Milken Institute’s Global Conference Los Angeles. There

are 200 sessions lead by over 3,000 speakers on current

events including Education, Energy, Finance,

Government, Industry, Human Capital, Media, Medical

Research, and Developing Markets. Attendees include

Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and Eric Schmidt, the Executive Chairman

of Alphabet. As Tony Blair told students at a private lunch before the event: "The

great thing about the Milken Institute Global Conference is that it brings together

people that are doers. These are not people who are commentating or writing

about the issues of the day. They're people who get things done."

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FIRST Involvement

FIRST LEGO League (FLL)

FLL Tournaments

This season, our team hosted

its second FLL qualifying

tournament, inviting over 20

FLL teams in the Southern

California region. Almost all of

the volunteers at our event

were members of our team.Each FLL team that came to

the event was given a tour of

our shop, where FLL alumni

helped them understand how they could continue their journey in FIRST robotics.

While giving the tours, our team members drew out the parallels between their

experiences in FLL and FRC and talked about how FLL inspired them to join our

team. Our team members built 8 full fields for other Southern California events to

use, and members of our team were at almost every Southern California FLL

competition.

Los Angeles Region Tables

Many members of the team spent countless

hours assembling all of the fields for the

Greater Los Angeles FLL region. These fields

were used at all of the competitions in Los

Angeles.

i.am.angel Foundation

On top of our close partnership with team 2890, we have also partnered with the

i.am.angel foundation to assist FLL teams in the Boyle Heights area, as well as

guide them through their first two seasons. Members of our team have given their

students tours of our shop and helped them set up and organize theirs. We have

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provided them robot design and 3d modeling resources, as well as connected

them with many other FLL teams in their area.

FLL Wildcats - Milken Community Middle SchoolWe partner with FLL team 2890 the Wildcats, to provide a bridge program

leading into our FRC team. Members of the Milken Knights personally mentor

team 2890, and some of our current students were on the FLL team as middle

schoolers. We have connected team 2890

with many outreach events such as the

Rockwell Automation Conference and LA

Tech week, as well as guided them to win

the champions award at their qualifying

event in their rookie season. Members of our

FRC team have taught them 3d modeling

skills, robot design principles, provided

software guidance, and used these common

skills to illustrate parallels between FLL and FRC. As the FLL program at Milken

middle school continues to grow from 2 students to many more, we hope to

continue to develop inspiring partnerships with more students, just as we have

with the members of team 2890.

Alumni Partnership in FLL

Many current Milken Knights are FLL

alumni, and enjoyed their experience so

much that they go back to their

elementary schools and mentor the

teams they were originally a part of.

Members of our team are alumni of and

currently mentor the Robohawks, Lego

Lions, and Robo Mustangs. Our team members have dedicated about 200 hours

to working with their old FLL teams, teaching them skills that they learned in FLL

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and improved on greatly on our FRC team.

FLL Calculator

This year, our team developed a FIRST

LEGO League calculator to help teams

strategize, practice, and learn how to be

competitive in the 2015 Trash Trek game.

This calculator has been used nearly 5,000

times in 41 countries.

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Mexico NXT Kits

Team 3476 started a project to provide LEGO Robotics NXT kits to children in

impoverished areas of Mexico. To help them with their efforts, we donated over

$1,000 worth of parts and kits.

FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC)Several of our team members have participated as refs and volunteers at FTC

events. We are planning on launching a rookie team for the 2016/2017 season.

Because of the overwhelming success of our FLL and FRC resources we will

release an FTC calculator and an FTC game test next year as well.

FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC)

FRC Collaboration Our team works closely with many other teams in our area to share ideas,

machine parts, provide mentorship, prepare for competitions, and spread the

message of FIRST. We have worked closely with many

teams in Southern California such as 973, 5012, 1515,

1661, 4, 4964 3476, and 6000, as well as teams from

other countries such as 1574 from Israel.

Game Test

To help the

members of

the FRC

community each year we create a

Game Test with multiple choice

questions to help everyone learn therules. This year over 2,159 people

have taken our game test from over

500 teams which is approximately ⅙ of

the teams in FRC! This includes

several hall of fame teams such as 254, 27, and 341.

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STRONGHOLD Calculator

Inspired by our FLL calculator, we also

created an FRC scoring calculator on the

same day of kickoff which has been usedover 1,500 times to better understand

game strategy.

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Sponsors

Template

We encourage our students to take initiative and communicate with current andpotential sponsors. We offer this template on our website as a resource for our

team and others to use.

Dear Mr./Ms. ______,

The Milken Knights is a unique robotics team comprised of outstanding students seeking

enrichment in their education. For the past ____ years, our team has represented Milken

Community High School at various FIRST Robotics Competitions. FIRST (For Inspiration and

Recognition of Science and Technology) is a non-profit organization established by Dean Kamen to

inspire students to pursue their interests in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics tobecome leaders in these fields. This is what we, The Milken Knights, s trive to do.

We would like you to invest in our team. A students whose life has been enriched by sci ence,

technology, engineering, and mathematics is a student who is better prepared for a career in any

field. Every st udent on our team learns life sk ills suc h as communication, leadership, and critic al

thinking. This allows them to not only be better leaders, but innovators of the future.

There are many supplies needed for a successful team, ranging from raw materials and computers,

to tools and t-shirts. Each team member wears a customized t-shirt to identify us as a team at

competitions and various community events. The monetary contributions we receive promote our

succ ess, s o in return we would like to promote you. In appreciation of your tax deductible

donation, we would like to represent you by prominently displaying your logo.

We hope that you will c onsider the benefits of invest ing in our team. We look forward to answering

questions about our team, and our role in the community, F. I.R .S.T. and otherwise. Through

FIRST, our team aims to prepare students to not only survive but thrive by giving them real world

experience. Please feel free to contact me for more information or regarding any questions. I look

forward to speaking with you soon.

Sincerely,

We appreciate the donations that our sponsors make to the team. Their funding

helps ensure that we have the proper equipment with which to fabricate parts for

our robot. Sponsors also help by providing machining and engineering advice to

help us build the best robot possible. We show our appreciation by keeping our

sponsors in the loop on team news, inviting them to competitions, and hosting

open houses at our shop.

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With an incredible amount of support from our school and main sponsor, Milken

Community Schools, we have been able to boost our team’s success far beyond

what we had originally imagined. Perhaps most importantly, the school also hired

four exemplary full-time mentors, ensuring that our program has the necessaryleadership to succeed.

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ContactWeb

MilkenKnights.com

“Team 1836: The MilkenKnights”

@milkenknights

Milken Community Schools

15800 Zeldins’ Way

Los Angeles, California

90049

(310) 440-3500 x3436

Mentors

Al Noel Sansolis (Robotics Manager) [email protected]

M ar k M as c ad r i ( R ob o ti c s C oo r di n at or ) m ma s ca dr i @m i lk e ns c ho ol . or g

R o ge r K as s eb au m ( D ir e ct o r, M AS T) r k as s eb a um @m i lk e ns c ho ol . or g

T a nn e r R a gl a nd ( D ir e ct o r o f R ob o ti c s ) t r ag l an d@ mi l k en s ch o ol . or g

Team Captains

M ic ha el B ic k m bi ck 63 1@ mi lk en sc ho ol .o rgM i ra n da M i ln e r m mi l ne r 59 5@ mi l k en s ch o ol . or g

Austin Shalit [email protected]

D an ie l S pa r d sp ar 68 7@ mi lk en sc ho ol .o rg

Team Members

Please contact all other team members through our contact form at

milkenknights.com/contact.

team 1836: milken knights chairman's book 2016

Documents