Amazing Kids! is proud to highlight the Amazing Kids! of the Month!

Each month, we showcase kids who are accomplishing amazing things.  We hope that by telling their special stories, we will inspire other kids to accomplish their own amazing achievements. 

Amazing Chatsworth High School Robotics Team, National Competion in Orlando, Florida

"You have teenagers thinking they're going to make millions as NBA stars when that's not realistic for even 1 percent of them. Becoming a scientist or engineer is."

"The prestigious Chairman’s Award honors the team that best exemplifies the mission of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) through its robotics program, teamwork, and community outreach."

 "They have raised the bar tremendously for other teams nationwide." 

Here's a story all you Lego lovers are bound to like! This month, our Amazing Kids! of the Month feature is a salute to all the budding engineers out there who love to build things.  The enterprising Chatsworth High School Robotics Team are an incredibly dedicated group of students who love building robots. Their love of, and dedication to, robotics brought them all the way to the National FIRST Robotics Finals and even gained them an invitation to the White House!

Read their inspiring stoy below and who knows?  Maybe you'll be inspired to dig out your old Legos and start building the next amazing robot! 

Table of Contents 

Amazing Robot Builders
Giving Back:  Chatsworth High Students Mentor Others!
US FIRST
Chatsworth High Students Represents FIRST at Paris Air Show
Chatsworth Robotics Honored at California State Capitol and White House
A National Model
 

Amazing Robot Builders
 

Chatsworth High Robotics Team Building Their Robot

Amazing science teacher Wendy Wooten from Chatsworth High School in Chatsworth, California is on a mission:  she wants to spark a love of science and engineering in her high school students.  To help fuel her students interest, each year she enters them into the US FIRST Robotics Competition. Little did she know that one day, her students would win the chance to go to the National competion in Orlando, Florida!
 

The Chatsworth High Robot out on the Competition Field

Giving Back:  Chatsworth High Students Mentor Others!

In 2001, Mrs. Wooten's amazing students in the Chatsworth High School Robotics Team won the highest award at the 2001 National Robotics Competition in Orlando, Florida.  The prestigious Chairman’s Award honors the team whose work best represents the mission of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) through its robotics program, teamwork, and community outreach.  The award recognizes Chatsworth for their mentoring efforts in recruiting and assisting 22 rookie teams in the Southern California area as well as for promoting the First Lego League (the "little league" of the FIRST Robotics Competition, for children ages 9 through 14), by mentoring 15 middle school teams in the San Fernando Valley near Los Angeles, California!
 

Chatsworth High Robotics Team Hold a Robotics Mentoring Workshop

The Chatsworth Robotics team developed and held mentoring workshops for other teams throughout the Fall and during the Competition season.  They sponsored a Sectional Competition and the Summer Classic Robotics Competition for local robotics teams.  They also held a Lego Robotics Summer Camp for younger students.  "They have raised the bar tremendously for other teams nationwide," said Jason Morrella, the West Coast Regional Director for First.

US FIRST

What is FIRST?  FIRST stands for "For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology."  It is an organization which inspires young people in the fields of math, science, and technology, and encourages them to seriously consider careers in engineering, machining, and manufacturing. 

FIRST is the 10 year old brain child of Dean Kamen, inventor and entrepreneur, and the head of Deka Research and Development.  Dean’s goal is to change the thinking of the culture in the United States from one in which technology experts such as scientists, engineers and machinistsand engineers are seen as "geeks," to one in which they are recognized as heroes. 

The Robotics competition is an event which he predicts will become the “NCAA of smarts.”  FIRST Robotics teams consists of high schools which team with professionals from local universities and industry to design and build a robot to compete in a sportslike competition which changes every year.  The professionals from local companies become the mentors for the high school students, who see them as technology heroes which they want to emulate. 

Chatsworth High Students Represents FIRST at Paris Air Show

Chatsworth High School Robotics Team 
demonstrating their robot at the Paris Air Show

As winners of the National Chairman’s Award, the Chatsworth High School Robotics Team was invited to represent FIRST at the Paris Air Show, the largest and most extensive air show in the world.  Held at Le Bourget Airport in Paris, the team was featured in the Global Solutions Pavilion, where two of their robots put on an exhibition of robot basketball.  They drew huge international crowds who were amazed by the sophistication of the high school students’ robots.  The highlights of the trip for the students were the exhibitions by the fighter planes and meeting the original astronauts from the International Space Station.  The team also made time for sightseeing of famous Paris landmarks.  The trip was an unexpected perk from winning the National Chairman’s Award.

Chatsworth Robotics Honored at California State Capitol and White House

At the invitation of California Assemblyman Keith Richman, MD, the Chatsworth High School Robotics Team traveled to the California State Capitol in Sacramento to be recognized for winning the National Chairman’s Award and to demonstrate the robots on the steps of the Capitol.  In addition, they were recognized at a reception at the White House with President George Bush in the Fall of 2001.  The students were very excited and thankful for these two once in a lifetime opportunities!  After all, it's not every day that a teenager gets invited to the White House!

A National Model

The amazing program at Chatsworth High School has become a national model!  The students are now heading toward futures in technology, especially engineering, machining, and computers.  Stimulated by the success of the program, local businesses have joined the students to support them and the NTMA (National Tooling & Machining Association) has obtained equipment to initiate a CAD and Machine Academy at Chatsworth High School.  Student internships with local industry have been also established. Over 20 machine and fabrication companies have become sponsors and mentors of the Robotics program!  The success of the Chatsworth High School Robotics Team is a direct result of the community teaming with Chatsworth High School to provide enriched education and career opportunities for the students. 

Way to go, Chatsworth High Robotics Team!  Who knows?  One day you may find these talented amazing young engineers may designing the rides at your favorite amusement park!

RELATED LINKS:

US FIRST: www.usfirst.org
FIRST Impressions Newsletter Archives, a joint publication by Small Parts, Inc., and FIRST: www.smallparts.com/FIRST_HOME/FIRST%201.htm
FIRST Lego League:  www.usfirst.org/jrobtcs/flego.htm