DSST: Stapleton High School senior Isamar Cesta shows off her senior photography project to DSST Public Schools staff member Meg Lafave.

Five hundred and seventy five elegantly dressed guests filled DSST: Stapleton High School on the evening of April 15 for DSST Public Schools' Slice of Pi event.A live jazz band played energizing riffs as DSST staff members, students, parents, community members and corporate sponsors mingled over heavy hors d'oeuvres and fun, non-alcoholic drinks. Classrooms and common spaces were transformed into laboratories, stages, showrooms and galleries as students showed off their varied skill sets through interactive experiments, historical plays, robotics demonstrations and art shows.  

"I was blown away yet again, not only by the quality of the student demonstrations, but also by the energy and maturity with which our students presented them." said Bill Kurtz, CEO of DSST Public Schools. Of particular note was DSST: Stapleton High School freshmen Mauriel Davis and Morgynne Tora's crowd-pleasing performance of their poem "The Laws of Physics" which was framed and presented to Laura Barton, the evening's honoree. Barton, a long-time DSST supporter and advocate, was just one of the compelling speakers on the program, which also included David Greenberg, Founder and Board Chair of DSST Public Schools and Joe Garcia, Lieutenant Governor of Colorado.

For one demonstration, DSST: Stapleton High School students painlessly lit guests' hands on fire. Guests protected their hands by dipping them in dish soap, which is not flammable.

Thanks to the generosity of the event's sponsors and attendees, over $400,000 was raised to ensure student success by sustaining school operations, which includes technology, academic assessment, curriculum development and elective and advisory programs at existing DSST Public Schools. "This year's Slice of Pi was the most successful DSST fundraising event to date," said Sandra Scanlon, Chair of DSST's Advancement Committee. "The evening's success was the result of a great team effort put forth by many DSST staff members and volunteers. It is wonderful to see so many community members working hard for the success of our students."

DSST: Stapleton High School junior Robin Bendiak puts finishing touches on her team's robot.

Thousands of people filled the University of Denver's Magness Arena from April 7-9 to watch and compete in the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition Colorado Regional. Forty five teams from eight states (as well as two teams from Mexico), put their engineering skills to the test as they worked to complete this year's challenge: LOGO MOTION. The challenge consisted of two alliances (each consisting of three teams) competing to hang as many inflated plastic shapes on their grids as they could during a two minute and 15 second match. The higher the teams hung their game pieces on their scoring grid, the more points their alliance received. Extra points were given for feats such as recreating the FIRST logo and for robots hanging tubes autonomously.  

Each team that competed in the regional spent six weeks constructing their robots from the same box of parts under the same restrictions. However, the forty students that comprise the DSST: Stapleton High School Robotics Team (which competes under the name Brute Force) took a unique approach in engineering their robot, Merrimack. Unlike all other robots in the regional competition, Merrimack was designed as a defensive robot. "The goal for our robot was not to play the competition but to play as part of an alliance. So instead of going for the main challenge, which was placing tubes on pegs, we decided to keep opposing teams from doing the same thing, which gave the teams on our side the time and space to complete the task without interference," said Will Sear, DSST: Stapleton High School sophomore and two-time FIRST competitor. 

The team's ingenuity paid off, as Brute Force's Merrimack contended well in the competition. Though the team did not place as a finalist this year (the team was a regional finalist in 2010), the students and mentors are very proud of their efforts. In FIRST competitions placing is not the primary goal, as the organization promotes student enthusiasm for science, technology and problem solving combined with gracious professionalism first and foremost.

Bill Skaff (center right), Mechanical Engineer at Lockheed Martin and DSST: Stapleton High School Robotics Team Mentor, poses with students Steven Chiu, Bryan Fisher and Brendan Boyle (left to right).

"With gracious professionalism, we help our opponents because we want them to succeed, just as much as we want to succeed ourselves," said Bryan Fisher, DSST: Stapleton High School junior and three-time FIRST competitor. "We share tools and parts so other teams can have functioning robots. By helping them, we're really helping ourselves get better." Sear added, "In the end it's about using math and science in a practical environment, not beating up the other teams."

Mentoring also played an invaluable role in the success of the DSST: Stapleton High School Robotics Team. John Spainhower, DSST Public Schools Network Technician and Bill Skaff, Lockheed Martin Mechanical Engineer, served as this year's primary mentors. "Our mentors were phenomenal," said Sear. "They put in a crazy amount of time to help us. There were times we actually slept at the school because we were working so late."

The DSST Robotics Team does not have as many mentors or monetary resources as other competing teams, but team members recognize the value of their few, dedicated mentors. "One thing Bill does that makes us a lot stronger than other teams is that he treats us not like students, but like partner engineers, said Sear." He holds us accountable for contributing and making sure things work. He cares a lot about quality and if we make a mistake, he makes us redo it until we have incredibly beautiful machines. During the challenge, it was great to sit there and realize that our robot was beautiful, not because Bill made it, but because he treated us like any other engineers and made sure that we met the same standards that we would have to meet at Lockheed."

According to freshman Rachel Wiggans, "Mentors and fundraising are the two things we need the most. It costs $5,000 just to enter the competition and we really need more mentors. You don't have to be an engineer - we can use help in all kinds of departments, like PR. We just need people who are willing to come down and dedicate time."

For more information about mentoring or sponsorship opportunities, please contact John at John.Spainhower@scienceandtech.org.

Service Learning Trip particiapnts pose outside of a house they helped build in Galveston, Texas with Habitat for Humanity. Photo courtesy of Bret Poppleton.

Thirty five DSST: Stapleton High School students and six DSST Public Schools staff members dedicated their week of spring break to work with Habitat for Humanity building houses devastated by Hurricane Ike in Galveston, Texas. The trip marked the fourth annual Service Learning Trip led by Bret Poppleton, Social Justice Teacher and DSST Public Schools Director of Operations and Finance.  

According to trip participants, "giving up" vacation time, raising the funds necessary to go on the trip and putting in long work days were all worth the relationships, sense of service and character building that occurred during the trip.

"I felt like I really got to know my teachers and classmates on the trip," said sophomore Juliann Coffey. "We were able to have a great time together in a less strict environment, breaking down the walls that separated teachers from students and 12th graders from 9th graders. We were just a group of people that came together to do a service."

"The service part of the trip was also something new to me," said Coffey. "Before, all the service that I did was for people that I knew. However, throughout this experience, I learned that service for someone that you don't know is the best kind of service. Sure, anyone can help out a friend in need, but I takes a person with true character to reach out to someone they don't know and lend a hand. That is what we did on this trip. And at the end of it, every person that went felt truly rewarded for being able to help and make a difference in a stranger's life."

Students work to prepare land for building. Photo courtesy of Bret Poppleton.

Sophomore Nick Bollen said, "I found [the trip] powerful because I think it is interesting how we as a group were able to perform service, in a way, just because it was the right thing to do. We didn't know who our help would be benefiting, but we still were able to do the work."

For junior Ben Brasch, the devastation he encountered when entering Galveston was surprising and difficult. "Entire neighborhoods were destroyed by the hurricane, the economically challenged families had up and left the city, businesses were just starting to re-open, and we were right in the middle of everything," said Brasch. "Some of the stories we heard were unbelievable," added Poppleton. "Though we didn't know the people we were building the houses for, we did talk to their neighbors - one family were hurricane Katrina evacuees who lost everything and relocated to Galveston only to lose everything again in Hurricane Ike."

Every day, team members would wake up at 6:30 a.m., have breakfast and work on building houses and prepping land until 3 p.m. They would then have free time, eat dinner and end each night with a closing circle, in which they discussed important issues and emotions they encountered during the day.

"On the last night, everyone really reflected on the individuals that had changed them during that week," said Brasch. "It was amazing to see how 41 people, each from their own background, all ended up in the outskirts of Texas, really accessing people who they might not have known the name of a week ago. Mr. Poppleton tells us every year that he leaves these trips as a new man, and I know for a fact that everyone sitting in the room would agree on a similar change within themselves."

"In just five days, we had gotten to know each other very well," said Coffey. "We had been through a lot together. We really became a family. There was one moment during the discussion when I just thought, 'Wow. I am so lucky to be in a group of people that are so caring and loving.' Almost everyone in the room was crying by the end of the night from all of the powerful words that were said."

      


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