Skip to main content

KU Engineering Expo

Lining things up
For the last couple of months, Caiden has been busy getting ready for the KU Engineering Expo with his ELP class.  From what I can tell, Caiden thoroughly enjoyed this experience, and we are thankful for teachers (and even some parents) who were willing to put in the extra time this project required!

Last year, the kids did the Egg Drop Challenge but were unable to go compete due to a snowstorm.  The main goal of this year's challenge was to program a small robot to go from Point A to Point B in less than 4 seconds, all while avoiding obstacles.  Caiden's group named their robot "Robobird" and they decided to take a direct route to Point B instead of following a marked line with a light sensor.

Last Friday was the big day, so they traveled up to Lawrence and made many trial runs before getting a fast time.  It sounds like the board they had at KU was not really up to par, so they had trouble with it veering to the right.  (I mean really, what can you expect from KU?)  Just kidding - I had to get a jab in there somewhere!  After the board was straightened out, they had no trouble at all and managed to have the fastest time.  They got first place out of 13 teams and the other Goessel team got third place.  We are so happy that Caiden has teachers who are willing to put in the time to work on challenging projects - and who recognize when kids thrive on something like this.  It takes their learning further!  

We're proud of you, Caiden!

Thanks to Logan's mom for these pictures:


Not sure about the Jayhawk!  :)


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Surprise!

Well, I sure don't get surprised very often, but Saturday night was a huge surprise to me! I thought I was heading to Hesston for an AGCO Christmas Dinner with Chelan. He told me we needed to drop something off at Ben and Tina's house (my cousin), first. Okay, no big deal! While we were there, Ben said they were about ready to go out for dinner, did we want to come along? Surprisingly, Chelan thought about it and wanted to do it (clue #1 that something was up). I kept saying that we couldn't skip out on his dinner, but Chelan insisted that going to Wichita for dinner would be much more fun. I even said, "This seems like something you had planned!" However, I'm always up for dinner in Wichita, so I agreed, reluctantly!! We enjoyed a meal at Hangar 1 Steakhouse and I thought that was the end of it. But, on the way home, Chelan asked if we could go by the new arena since the inaugural concert was there that night -- Brad Paisley! I thought it would be f...

Spring Art

While Mrs. Schmidt was away on maternity leave during the spring, Mr. Novak (from Hesston) filled in for her. Since Cambry has her first 3 class periods in the art room, she got to know him very well and he mentioned several times how he appreciated Cambry's artistic style and way of thinking. He even let her paint a little bit on his own pieces! Cambry took several pieces to the WSL art festival in April. She came home with a first place finish in the graphic design category and an honorable mention in the computer design category. We are so thankful for the instruction she has received over the last 4 years in Goessel. Now, on to Hesston College with Professor Cross!

Choosing Trust Over Fear

I have struggled with writing about the shooting in Hesston - in fact, I wasn't going to post anything about it.  However, for the sake of memories, I decided I should at least touch on it.  It does deserve a place. It just hit so close to home - particularly since Doug was directly involved.  Honestly, I sometimes feel guilty for struggling with this tragedy.  I wasn't there, I didn't lose anyone close to me, and, although I know a few people who work there, I didn't know any of the victims.  And I get to move on with my life with little disruption.  I feel like I am on the outside looking in.   But I guess that's okay.  I didn't have to be directly involved for this to touch me.  My heart is sad for the families of those who died, for those who were injured, for those who witnessed it, for my brother-in-law who will probably replay images over and over, for my sister and my niece and nephew who might sometimes wonder "what if?", for th...