Last night, we pranked our mentors….Like every good team should.

Some of our mentors had put balloons in our drive coach’s room, filling it to capacity….The students subsequently decided to stuff them in one of the closest student rooms and play ‘Dodgeball’ and ‘Keep it off the Lava’ before room checks.

But at room check, we decided to pile them all in to our DePuy rep.’s room–repaying her for all the balloons she got for our drive coach.

It was fun, and helped us all bond as a team. But let it be said that it was even funnier when our head coach went to shower this morning and found it filled and overflowing with balloons…

Now if only we could collect them and tie them to our robot….then we could fly to St. Louis (a.k.a. Paradise Falls) and finish our Adventure Book….

We always have time for a few laughs, even at build.

When you join a robotics team, you don’t expect to meet people who will turn out to be your best friends, but you do. Spending so much time with the same group of people forces you to connect with members you don’t know too well. On TJ there is not one member who has joined and not left with a new family, and it is the main reason so many graduates still come back to help mentor the newest members of the team. Being on travel is one of the best experiences anyone could ever endure. Where else will you find a team that brings +60 students together, creates a robot, teaches every kind of communication skill, and grows a family? Nowhere else will give kids a better chance to find a place to fit in, and enjoy where they are. Not only do members make friendships with other members, but they make friendships with their coaches and mentors. When a high school student has so many people to go to, they become more open and willing to make even more friendships. TJ is our high school’s largest team, and has by far the most impact of each and every student in the school.

Students Making Progress

 a few cancelations on build days this year (due to snow), we were still able to meet, getting significant work done each day for all of our groups. Saturday build shows the true spirit, as well as the fierce dedication,

 our team’s members.

Now, we are printing a large sprocket to go around our turret to help turn it. The team used CAD to design the sprocket and then split it up into six pieces so it would fit into the printer. After all the pieces are done printing we assemble them into a full sprocket and attach it to the robot.

Spirit Squad in Action

er jugs splattered with red, orange, yellow, and blue are used to play beats in which our team dances to, very well I must say. Giant banners showing our team colors are hung above our seats, and flowing yellow flags are always flying high above our heads.

One common cheer that can be heard when we score, is “OHYEAH?..OHYEAH!”, this spirited chant shows our drivers that we are there and we are celebrating their efforts. We try to keep up our reputation of being that loud team no one wants to sit near, it shows our spirit…and gets us good seats!

But when the build members of the team are working hard on the robot, the Chairman’s kids are camped out in the back of a computer lab sharing thoughts and putting their brilliant ideas onto paper. This group is very diverse, so many different points of views are able to be understood and translated into poems, blogs, and essays. As the due date for the awards gets closer and closer, Chairman’s members spend +6 hours a day helping their captain brainstorm, write, and edit everything that’s written.

When trying to complete awards, members can only spend so much of their time working and being serious. But, when they have fun and joke around it’s the time that lots of ideas are flowing. Having a group of students who are all friends and all get along makes the work environment quite enjoyable. Members love coming and joining the fun, and they are allowed as long as they are working hard and supplying useful ideas.

The students all brought gifts for their peers,
And plates of deserts seemed to disappear.
With students in costumes and decorations around.
No one could put the team’s spirits down.

When all through the room there was lots of chatter.
The swap had begun gift choice was the important matter.
Over to the gifts the students flew like a flash.
Tore open the paper and threw it in the trash.

The unicorn, the dragon, the nerf gun too.
Gave students a reason for hullabaloo.
When, what to our wondering eyes should appear,
But Mr.Edgington dressed in Santa gear.

With the flash of a camera, so bright and quick,
Ms.Jerome took a picture of the team’s St.Nick.
More pictures were taken during that day,
And we whistled, and shouted, and said hooray !

We sprang to our feet, and we went our own ways,
Looking forward to the future TJ days .
But we heard Calef exclaim, as she drove out of sight,
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!”

Our new color design.

Today, Valentine’s Day, we have discovered that all the yellow dye has gone missing. Where could it be? The art room, the build room, or maybe even one of the mentor’s classrooms? Should we go to highlighter yellow or search for the beautiful, golden yellow? Only time will tell what the outcome will be.

The team has chosen which tie dye design they would like to be shown on their t-shirts. Many students entered their ideas but the winner was a mystical swirl of blue, red, orange, and yellow. Throughout the past three weeks the art group has finished almost half of the tie dying, for t-shirts and all of the wristbands. After the t-shirts are finished, the students will be able to bring in their own personal items to be tie dyed with the team’s colors, spreading the TJ2 spirit throughout the whole school. Few members enjoy coming to art to twist, dye, rinse, and fold one hundred and fifty plus shirts, but the few that do come along have a very entertaining time. Good music, good members, and a fantastic coach make art the perfect place to wind down and do some tie dying.