Good Evening,
I hope you are enjoying your summer with family and friends before the school year begins in few short weeks.
After a successful summer program where more thank 150 students attended STEM classes, ChathamSTEM is now taking registration for First Lego League teams from Chatham Middle School students. Already 12 teams of 4-6 students from Lafayette have been assembled to participate in what will turn out to be the largest Chatham robotics event in history.
This is a great program that includes a Robotics challenge based on the the same Robots used in our ACE, After School Enrichment programs and the ChathamSTEM summer programs.
If we have enough teams from CMS, teams that join will be able to practice Mondays/Wednesdays 3pm-5pm under the supervision of a coach and High Schoolers at the Chatham Middle School Band Room.
If we do not have enough teams to open a class, teams will be invited to join the Chatham Lafayette Practices on Tuesdays 3:30pm-5pm at the Lafayette Gym.
Every year there is a different challenge. The 2014/2015 game will be announced nationally on August 26 and the Chatham Kick-off for the season will be on August 30th at the high school Gym C 9am. A make up session will be proposed the first week of September. Teams will start meeting/practicing the 2nd or 3rd week in September.
The 2014/2015 season
The theme of the First Lego League challenge for the 2014/2015 season is "World Learning". Details will be unveiled on August 26. From September to November, teams of 4-6 kids build a Robot and develop a Science poster that they present at different mock competitions (1 or 2 in nearby towns) or qualifying events (1 probably in Livingston). In the ChathamSTEM program, they prepare their robots/projects with the help of a coach and trained high schoolers.
What ChathamSTEM provides:
- Secures a Space in the School to set the practice tables for the teams to practice
- Secure (and pay) a teacher to coach the kids during the season. Coaches will be assisted by trained high schoolers
- Organize team registration with FIRST and order Robots and season Kits bulk to save on shipping cost
- Organize Information sessions for the community
- Overall support
What you can do for Chatham (in addition to signing up your kid)
- Each ten will need a parent "Lead" . The parent liaison needs to know nothing about Robotic or Computer or anything technical.
- The lead will be the connection with the other parents in your 4-6 members team
- if needed, the lead will coordinate/chaperone the extra-practices,
- The lead will coordinate the transportation to the competitions, a couple Saturdays in November.
Cost of the program is around $1,250 for the year, $850 if you already have a robot
(for a team 4-10 members, we recommend 5-6 kids)
Kit = $340 to $499 depending how fancy of a kit you want for your team. If you already have a Mindstroms kit (NXT or EV3), use it.
Team registration = $224
2014 Game Set = $75
Teachers/Coaches: $200-$300 per team
Table building $75 per table to share with other teams
Participation in competitions: Each event will charge $50/$100 to offset the cost of the judges. You will participate in one or two.
We are negotiating bulk pricing for some of these items and we expect the cost to be between $1250 and $1350 if you do not already have a Kit you can use.
If you ae interested in forming or joining a team, please ad your name to this
list. Parents will be contacted to form a team.
If you already have up to 6 kids who know they want to be together, please take a spy in the team columns.
Parents: If you volunteer as a team lead for one of the teams , ChathamSTEM is willing to offer your child a 50% discount on next week's FLL prep summer camp. chathamstemsummer.eventbrite.com.
"Individual commitment to a group effort -- that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work."- Vince Lombardi
