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the remarker | Friday DEC. 14 2012
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R O B O T I C S
Robotics sweeps city competition, falls at regionals
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A 6 5. The robot’s arm grasping a bottle which was a scoring piece in the last competition. 6. Seniors Michael Gilliland, Milan Savani and Shivum Agrawal practice driving the robot. 7. Junior Andrew Gatherer cuts a piece of pipe using a bandsaw. 8. The wall of tools in the team’s lab.
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fter winning first place locally, the Robotics Team moved on to compete in the Texas Boosting Engineering Science and Technology (BEST) Regional Robotics Competition. The team competed Nov. 9 and 10 in Garland against 60 other teams from Texas and New Mexico. The team’s robot was designed to move bottles up and down and carefully maneuver the holes onto small pegs, all while being timed. The goal of the competition was to mimic a space elevator. After some last-minute tweaking on the first night, the robot failed to complete one of the tasks. Although the device fell short of expectations due to mechanical troubles, the team is hopeful for the future. “I’m hoping for a repeat of a win at Oklahoma this January,” senior co-captain Milan Savani said,” and hopefully a win at internationals this summer.” Here’s a look at the robotics team and how it operates. 1. The skeleton of the most recent robot. 2. Junior Ali Ahmed and senior Milan Savani hold the robot and wait for the competition to begin. 3. A drawing of a prototype for a claw and a gear drive. 4. Senior Adam Rawot drives the robot during a competition round.
ROBOTICS story by Jacob Chernick, staff writer | photos by Andrew Gatherer, staff photographer, Ryan O’Meara, news editor and Doug Rummel, robotics instructor
Mlakar selected to teach online course By Shourya Kumar staff writer IN ADDITION TO THE school’s decision to join the Global Online Academy, math instructor Paul Mlakar has been selected to teach an advanced math course in multivariable calculus. According to Scott Gonzalez, the school’s representative to the Global Online Academy, Mlakar has taken a big step forward for the school. “He is really taking a big step for our school,” Gonzalez said. “And the truth is that Global Online Academy is made up of schools very similar to us in terms of academic performance and rigor. “And to have a faculty member propose a class and be accepted as an instructor is a very nice for the school.” Given the potential difficulties of
teaching the new class, Mlakar looks forward to the opportunities this teaching job presents him with. “Teaching that high level of a calculus class is really exciting to me,” he said. “It’s going to be very challenging material for me to go back and re-learn and then be able to share it with students literally all over the world.” In addition, Mlakar sees this as an opportunity to explore new technologies, but he also acknowledges the challenges he will face. “No face to face meeting, just completely online,” he said. “It’s going to be a challenge: time is going to be a challenge. This is on top of my duties at St. Mark’s. And I will be managing meetings with students all over the world in completely different time zones.” Gonzalez, too realizes the risks, but shares Mlakar’s enthusiasm.
“It’s a big risk, but I think its groundbreaking,” Gonzalez said. “I really appreciate him doing that, and him being accepted as an instructor is quite an accolade for him.” Courses for the Global Online Academy will be treated as electives. “I do not know where students got the idea that these courses do not count. They do.” Gonzalez said. “You would get credit for the course, it would go on your transcript, and it would be factored into your GPA.” Overall, both Gonzalez and Mlakar see promise in the program and hope that students will avail themselves of the opportunities it offers. “St. Mark’s purpose for joining the Global Online academy give access to courses to our students that we don’t currently offer,” Mlakar said, “to give some other opportunities.”
2013-2014 Online courses Fall semester
Spring semester
• Arabic I • Bioethics • Comparative
• Bioethics • Comparative religions • Computer program
governments
ming
• Computer programming • Declaring our humanity • Crimes against human- • Game theory ity • Fiction writing • Digital photography • Graphic design • Global health • International macro • Global voices: poetry economics writing • Intro. to psychology • Intro. to psychology • iOS app development • Medical problem • Multivariable calculus solving • Neuropsychology • Microeconomics SOURCE Dean of Campus and Provost Scott Gonzalez, coordinator of the school’s relationship with Global Online Academy