Howdy friends, fans and family! The summer may have just begun but we have an exciting and fully loaded off-season planned. If you know a girl in grades 8-12 that would be interested in joining us, have them fill out our Team Interest Form.
We’re In A Magazine!
Back in April we had the great pleasure to visit with Meghan Voss, a writer for Go Local Flathead Valley Magazine. In May we visited the magazine publisher, Highline Branding & Design Co. for a fun photoshoot. This week the Summer 2023 issue of Go Local Flathead hit newsstands all over the valley and the wonderful story Meghan wrote about our team and what we do in FIRST is a featured article. The online version of the article will be released soon, and we’ll be sure to provide a link once it’s available.
GoBabyGo! Flathead
We are excited to announce that, for her Gold Award Girl Scout Project FTC Dean’s List Finalist Zia Walker is starting a GoBabyGo! Chapter in NW Montana. RoboScout Squad (aka Girl Scout Troop 3709) is happy to join this venture as the primary technical labor force for the project. The basic concept of GoBabyGo! is to modify electric ride-on cars for toddlers with mobility impairment.
We first learned about GoBabyGo! at the FIRST World Championship in April 2022. It is a wonderful program that has grown internationally through colleges, medical facilities and robotics teams since its inception at the University of Delaware in 2007. Logan Health has been instrumental in providing funding, medical expertise, and support in getting this project off the ground. If you’d like to support this project financially or volunteer to help with car builds, let us know. You can follow along on the GoBabyGo! Flathead website as Zia and the team work hard to provide independent mobility to area children.
U.S. Senator Jon Tester Visits
We were thrilled to have Senator Tester visit us in the HideyHub last week. We appreciate him taking the time to learn about what we do in FIRST Tech Challenge and Girl Scouts. It’s so important for our elected officials to understand what we do, so when an opportunity arises, they can advocate for STEM programs like FIRST that teach kids skills that transcend robotics and help us become strong leaders and real world problem solvers for tomorrow. He even got a lesson in how to drive McQueen. Thank you again, Senator Tester.
GSMW STEM Van
Girl Scouts of Montana and Wyoming STEM Van came to town.
“The Mobile STEM Learning Center will be equipped to engage girls, across 245,000 square miles of our council, in a girl-led and girl-focused immersive environment that will include 3D printing, drones, robotics, virtual reality, coding, microbiology, space science, and much more.”
The Mobile STEM Learning Center will provide girls with empowering, hands-on STEM learning opportunities in their communities!
GSMW.org
STEM Van Tour Dates – Its a quick tour this time. They’ll be back for longer visits in the near future.
FIRST Pitch
Baseball fans, you’re in for a special treat. RoboScout Squad will be in attendance at the Glacier Range Riders home game on August 9th with a special robot to throw the first pitch and launch t-shirts into the stands. The team will also have a demo area setup with a few robots to share what we do in FIRST with the community. We may have more special guests join us for this fun evening, more info to come soon.
Meet Us at the NW MT Fair
RoboScout Squad will be setup for robotics demos Sunday August 20th, in the Expo building at the Northwest Montana Fair and Rodeo. Come say hello, learn about the team and FIRST Robotics, and have some county fair fun.
Kalispell Kick-Off
RoboScout Squad will be hosting a 2023 FTC Season Kickoff event on Saturday September 9th at 9:00am in Kalispell. Details will be available soon. If you’re interested in joining us for a fun event and live Center Stage field reveal let us know. All teams welcome.
Changing of the Guard
Team recruitment efforts have been underway since April. Please join us in welcoming new RoboScout Squad sisters, Marin and Ainsley. We are very excited to get them up to speed and ready for the upcoming 2023-2024 FIRST Tech Challenge Center Stage season. If you know a girl in grades 8-12 that would be interested in joining us, have them fill out our Team Interest Form.
We had 2 graduating seniors this spring. Jessie will be attending MSU Bozeman, majoring in engineering. She’s signed up for an MSU robotics challenge and also plans to volunteer with FIRST. Katie will be attending FVCC to complete her Associates Degree before transferring to Eastern Washington University to major in Secondary Education. She plans to volunteer with the Peace Corps after her Bachelor’s Degree before returning to the US to teach English. Congratulations Jessie and Katie!
Alumni Mentor Lexi is pursuing her Disney dreams. She has been accepted to the Disney College Program and will be living at Disney World until mid-January. See you real soon, Lexi.
That’s 3 of our founding team members off on new adventures. Good luck ladies!
