We had our first scrimmage at Weimar on Saturday. It was great! We came in third which was really good, considering that we finished rebuilding our robot on Monday!

So, today we practised our presentation, then did it for the P.C.O.E. teachers meeting. They were really impressed!! Kim gave us some good tips. Then we ate and then Alan came and helped us. We decided to change my ICE CORE program so that the robot puts the rig in the research area instead of base which means a lot of precise calculations! AAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHH!! But, I still had fun.

We had a meeting friday, where we started with doing the presentation, and we went through it great!  After that, we started on the table runs.  With two of our three teams getting 355, I think we did pretty well!!

After the meeting we went to the radio, we designated Faith the main spokeswoman, who sat in the hot seat with the interviewer.  We only had 10 minutes of air time, but we got out what we needed!

 We had a nice meeting on Friday. We did our presentation and lots of table runs. The Red Team, which is Bobby and I got a 355 on the table two times in a row!!! Then, we went to KAHI for an interview on the radio. I had fun being the spokesperson. We got out information about FLL and FIRST as well as a bit about our team. Thank you KAHI!

Sunday was State competition, and tons of fun. I was the first kid to arrive at the building. When everyone was here we sat together for the opening ceremonies after setting our pits up. We waited for a few hours and then went to presentation, engineering, and teamwork in rapid succession. We were also interviewed and received beautiful FLL medals. Then we had lunch, fabulous Subway sandwiches (sorry about product placement!). After lunch we could practice the table runs. Suddenly two of our few missions started to mess up. Luckily we fixed them in time. Still our first table run with me as housekeeper got just 175 points. Our next table run did slightly better, with a 190. Our last table run did lots better, a 315, enough to get us second place robot performance award. When we did the alliance rounds, both our missions failed, sadly. After helping clean up we went in for the awards ceremony. We got second place robot performance, wackiest attachment award, and first place presentation. It was so exciting! Also our mentor, Alan Levezu, got the mentor of the year award. State competition was so much fun!

The logos (for Lego Guards and Forest Guard) are now on the net. Also we completed the press releases and posted them as well.

They are at http://2008.legoguards.net/PR

If you need more or different, send me a note!

Alan

The Lego Guards team has been given a once in a lifetime opportunity, but they need your help!! They have been invited to attend the Children's Climate Call in Copenhagen, Denmark.(link to the Climate Call webpage here) This one time event is on May 1-3 2009. Six teams were chosen(out of 13,000 worldwide). The six teams will work with university professors, consultant companies,and climate experts from many different countries. They will develop a prototype for implementing their project. At the end of the week end, the plans will be judged, and the winning team will have their prototype implemented and presented at the World Climate Summit to demonstrate that children can make a difference! Remember, the team needs sponsors both corporate and private to help with traveling and other similar expenses. Please consider supporting the Lego Guards!

      (paypal button here)

I sent this letter to:

Al Gore and his Climate Project

Governor Schwarzenegger

If anyone has more ideas for people to send this to, let me know, or use this text if you want.

Hello, my name is Faith Oakes and I am 13 years old and a proud member of a northern California FLL LEGO robotics team called the Lego Guards. FLL introduces children around the world to the fun and experience of solving real-world problems by applying math, science, and technology. Our team, as part of this year's competition, had to come up with an innovative solution to a community climate problem and present it to a panel of judges. We picked wildfire as our subject, and our solution is called Forest Guard: an early wildfire detection system that uses ethernet radios and personal computers all over the world as key components.

We believe Forest Guard could save lives, money and property. Fighting fires last year cost California nearly $300 million, with damage costing over $250 million. Installing a Forest Guard pilot system (80 cameras, two hubs) into Tahoe National Forest would only cost approximately $296,000. Also, Forest Guard would reduce the amount of carbon dioxide released into our air. Four major fires in northern California from over this summer released more than 28 million tons of carbon dioxide into our air. That's the equivalent of 7 million cars on the road for a year! As the recent tragedy in eastern Australia proves, uncontrolled wildfire can be devastating, and we believe that early detection is the key to stopping wildfire before it becomes uncontrollable.

FIRST LEGO League holds competitions throughout the world at both local and regional levels. The Lego Guards won the local competition, and we went on to the Northern California State Championship tournament where we won 1st place in the Project Presentation category!

As a championship tournament project award winner, our idea was submitted to the Children's Climate Call (a partnership between the LEGO group, NIRAS - an international consulting firm, and FIRST - a global educational foundation) in Copenhagen, Denmark. The committee  chose only 6 teams from the entire world (there are more than 13,000 teams worldwide!) to participate in a one time Climate Action summit, and the Lego Guards were selected as one of those 6 teams!  At the summit, we will be meeting with scientists from universities, the United Nations Energy Program, and other experts from consultant companies. At the conclusion, one of these 6 projects will be selected to be implemented and also presented at the World Climate Summit (COP15) in December.

I am writing to you to share this exciting news, and also to ask for your help. Because it is so expensive to travel to Denmark, we will need sponsors to provide financial support. Would you consider giving us your help and support? I have attached a PDF copy of our press release, and the links below will give you more information. I would be very happy to answer any questions you might have.

Please help us prove that children can make a difference!

Sincerely,

Faith Oakes
LEGO Guards

http://2008.legoguards.net/ForestGuard
http://www.childrensclimatecall.org/

We, the Lego Guards, were selected to be one of six teams from around the world (in fact , out of more than 13,000 teams!) to attend the Children's Climate Call in Copenhagen, Denmark.  In this three day event, from May 1-3, we will speak with engineers and scientists from around the world and talk about how to make our innovative solution, Forest Guard, be able to work for real!  On the last day, one of the six team's ideas will be chosen to become a reality, and actually be implemented.

Unfortunately, to be able to go, there is a huge admission fee plus airfare and lodging.  This is perhaps where you (the reader) come in.  Any amount of money will help.  If you donate, you or your business, whichever you prefer, will be listed under the sponsors section of our website.  We hope you will consider donating to this incredible opportunity, to further forest fire detection and prevention and help the climate in our community and around the world.

Today, the Lego Guards were interviewed by CBS 13 News. Heidi was interviewed first, then some of our runs were filmed and I explained Ramp. We also did our Presentation and answered some questions. Then we went to the Auburn Sizzler and did our presentation for the Soroptomist ladies (Alan,correct me if I'm wrong. I'm not sure how to spell that word). They were very impressed. They gave us a standing ovation, thhen "passed the hat" for us. They gave us $592!!! (counted by Heidi the banker and yours truly) Thank You Soroptomists!!!!!!!! The Team will be on Channel 13 tonight at 5:00 pm. Stay tuned!

Today, Saturday March seventh, we drove down to Sacramento to do our presentation for the California Licensed Foresters Association's annual conference business meeting. After we drove down, we realized we were early so we sat out by the pool and walked around.

Then a photographer from the Sacramento Bee talked to us. It was sad that Aydan was not there. We will be in the Sacramento Bee in the Media section on Sunday March eighth.

Then we went in and did our presentation for the Foresters group. They liked it, although we did not recieve much input.

Then we drove home and went to Quiznos on the way ( sorry about the product placement! )

The 8 of us (Mrs. Huckins, Mrs Wood, Mrs. Oakes, Al, Andrew, Bobby, Drew, and me), drove to Sacramento in the Huckins' 7 seater car. That was, shall we say, an interesting experience. Anyway, we all arrived in one piece, though very early. So we got some nice tans in the pool area. It was the Hilton, so the lounge chairs were very, very comfy. We all wished that Heidi and Aydan were with us! After a while, a SacBee reporter came and took some photos while we practiced our presentation. (Pretty hard without Aydan.) Then we did our presentation for real in front of the foresters. They were interested, but we didn't get much feedback. Then we talked some more with the SacBee Photographer and Reporter. Check your papers Sunday!

The Lego Guards did a presentation for the Auburn Kiwanis Club. It was really hard, considering the facts that we didn't have much room and Andrew wasn't there. I was the only one who knew Andrew's part, so I had a ton of stuff to say, which made me nervous, which caused me to stumble a few times. Oh well. Bobby drew quite a few laughs. 

Our team did the presentation for the Meadow Vista Lions. We had a great intro (thanks Mr. Huckins) and they were really friendly. They LOVED the robot! Thanks for having us, Lions!

To raise money for our trip to Copenhagen, and to participate in the Childrens Climate Action, we are going to hold a fabulous Spaghetti Dinner Fundraiser!!! At this fun event, we will have delicous spaghetti, (what else would you have at a spaghetti dinner) and other great food. The Lego Guards will do robot runs and our project presentation. We will also have a silent auction and probably a live auction and maybe even a raffle!! This fun for the whole family event will be held on April 4 from 5:30 to 8:00p.m. at the parish hall at St. Teresas Church on Atwood road. Tickets are now on sale.

Prices are:
Adult $12      Children (4-14) $6         Family (2 adults + children) $36
Great Food * Silent Auction * No-host Bar

Please come to help support the Lego Guards and have a great time!

Thank you to all the businesses and individuals who have kindly donated money or auction items. You are helping us reach our goal of getting to Copenhagen, Denmark, to participate in the Childrens Climate Call. We could not get to this amazing event without your help.

If you would like to help out further, as well as have a great time, you can come to the spaghetti dinner on April 4 to benefit our team. We will have tons of fabulous auction items, many of significant value, donated by our super supporters. At the dinner, our team, the Lego Guards will be showing and demonstrating our robot, as well as doing our presentation. It will be great fun for the whole family. A special thank you the Knights of Columbus of Auburn , who will be cooking and doing all kinds of other hard work.

Please attend!

Today we did the presentation for the Meddlers. It was really early(at least I thought it was.) We had to be there at 7:00 AM. Anyway, they were very interested, and they gave us some good feedback, and asked some intelligent questions. They also passed around a cup for us. Thanks Auburn Meddlers!!

Today we did our presentation for the Gold Country Rotary of Auburn. They were very nice, and fed us lunch before we did our presentation. The Rotary was impressed, and we were asked a few questions. We also received some good feedback. Thanks Gold Country Rotary!

.........that's kinda early! Oh well! The Daybreak Rotary enjoyed our presentation very much. They also liked our robot movie. But.........I'm not sure that the team was completely awake! Thanks Daybreak Rotary!

Saturday's spaghetti dinner was a fabulous success! Do to the profit for it we can now make it to Copenhagen for the Climate Call!

Although it was hard work, we all had a ton of fun and the many people who attended were very kind and generous. I worked all day helping set up but it definitely paid off! The auction went very well and people bid high (yay!) Thank you to Dave Rosenthall who did a fabulous job emceeing. Also thank you to the Knights of Columbus who helped cook this dinner and make it a success.

Now we will make it to Copenhagen!!!! (see thermometer)

On Thursday we went to the Ridge to present to Auburn Rotary. They were nice enough to buy us lunch. We presented to them and they were very interested in our idea. Later they donated $600 to our cause, helping us get to Copenhagen.

Thank you so much Gold Country Rotary for your generous support helping us get to Copenhagen!