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Volume 48 Edition 20
Correction to Feb. 27 Book Nook story The Book Nook story from last week noted that “all items range from 10 cents to $2, but nothing went beyond that.” In fact, some items are priced higher due to their current appeal and popularity.
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Along with capturing ‘best robot’ award,
Robotics team takes third at Regionals David Bergstrom Staff Writer
The CFHS robotics team won the quarterfinals in St. Louis, but lost to the top two teams in the semifinals by just a few minor errors, and was awarded the Motorola Quality Award for best robot. The next regional competition will be held on March 26 in Minneapolis. Each year in robotics there is a competition that the team must work together to accomplish. This year Team 525, which consists of 25 students and 10 adult mentors, also known as the “Swartdogs,” have been given a challenge by First Overdrive. This is the ninth year Kenton Swartley’s robotics team has been eligible to compete. “This year we call DisTek our home, but in several months, we will have to move to another location,” Swartley said. “We have been at DisTek, CFU, a store in the mall and in my classroom over the past years.” The Motorola Quality Award is giv-
en to the team that has the best animation design of their robot and of their animation of the theme of the year. This year’s theme was, “What can you invent that can help your community?” “Last year we were given the third rank at semifinals at Regional and lost due to a judge’s error,” senior Christian Sims said, “and the same thing happened in 2003,” Swartley added. The competition was held in St. Louis on Feb. 27 through March 1, and all projects were due on Feb. 19.Each team had the drivers of the robots, the coach for the drivers and a new position this year called the “Robo-coach.” The competition took place on a 54 x 27 foot carpeted arena with a steel piped fence as a lane divider on the field that the robots must go around in order to collect points. At the beginning of the race, the robots went around the divider to collect points. Six and a half feet above the floor in the middle of the course was a horizontal ladder that went all the way across the field. There were four
trackballs that have a 48-inch diameter that will be positioned on the ladder in a random order for each game. Each team got to work with two of them. The teams got points for putting their trackballs back up there and for knocking the others down. The robots must be built to withstand the trackball falling on them in case the opposing team does knock their ball down on them. The team got points for taking the ball with them around the course and each time it went around. The teams also received extra points for having the robot grab the ball and reach it over the ladder and drop it on the other side. Team 525 competed in 1999, skipped the competition in 2000, and has been competing every year since. Thanks to several team sponsors, this has been made possible. These sponsors are Rockwell Collins, DisTek Integration, John Deere Waterloo Operations, Eason Grant provided by Cedar Falls High School, UNI College of Natural Sciences and Iowa Space
David Bergstrom Photo
Working on the team’s creation, robotics members junior Deanna Ament and early grad Kyle Redfern ready the robot for the upcoming competition. Grant Consortium. Each of these sponsors has donated $1,000 or more. While
there are other sponsors, they usually give anywhere from $20 to $500.
Drama department to host productions of ‘Meeting Sam,’ ‘Harvey’ on March 7-8 Arlene Freudenberg Staff Writer
CFHS students will perform “Meeting Sam” and “Harvey” on Friday, March 7 and Saturday, March 8 at 7:30 p.m. in the CFHS auditorium. Tickets will cost $4 for students and $5 for adults. Activity passes will be accepted. “The one act is about an author coming home to her apartment to find a bunch of her creations begging her to finish their stories,” senior Dallas Salmons explained. “The play “Harvey” is about a family trying to deal with a relative who sees a large white rabbit. It’s the story of them trying to set things straight, and they realize the best thing for them is to let Harvey stay.” Since directing a play is such a timeconsuming job, CFHS graduate Spen-
cer Collins is assisting Rathe in directing It’s sometimes hard to balance school work, “Meeting Sam,” which is a one act play that will play, and all the other stuff going on, but be performed before when the performance comes it’s all worth it “Harvey.” Junior Megan because you realize all your hard work has Kleitsch, who has a part finally paid off. in “Meeting Sam,” explained the benefits of having Collins as a di —Katelin DeSerano rector. “He has differ Sophomore Actress ent ways to memorize lines than Rathe, and he They build our self-esteem when we ues, the challenge is doing charactermakes play fun,” Kleitsch said. Although Collins makes participat- do things right,” Salmons said. ization,” sophomore Katelin DeSerano However, the directors can only do said. ing in the play fun, the actors appreciso much, so the real work has to come ate both directors. The actors also put a lot of time into “They’re very helpful in getting us from how much the actors put into it. perfecting their performances. “In the beginning it was challenging to do things and making things that “We’re here every day until six, make the play turn out for the best. to remember lines, and as play contin- and it’s a blast. But as the performance
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moves closer, we have late practices until nine.” Deserano said. With all the time and work the actors are putting into the play, some would assume it doesn’t leave time for anything else. “It’s sometimes hard to balance school work, play and all the other stuff going on, but when the performance comes it’s all worth it because you realize all your hard work has finally paid off,” DeSerano said. However, if questioned about the reasons on why to participate in play, the answer is always the same. “Being able to hang out with my friends and doing the stuff I love doing,” Salmons said. DeSerano agrees that both the play and the partnership make it worth it. “I love acting, and I love play,” DeSerano said.