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President Mike B. was joined today at Cafe Spiga by 11 regular members plus our about-to-be (and longtime past) member, Mark Snyder, who is transferring from Patchogue Rotary (and formerly a member of Rocky Point Rotary, as well). Our guest speaker, Sam Kopcienski, was accompanied by his dad, Matt Kopcienski. President Mike began today's meeting by inviting members to share what meant a lot to them about their membership in Rotary (their "aha moments"). Some of these: Dennis spoke about his pride in our helping keep up Camp Pa-Qua-Tuck, where our support allows many physically/mentally challenged youngsters to enjoy a period of enjoyable activities together and also gives their parents a bit of respite. Kim was especially moved by our participation in a Habitat Build and meeting the family that would reside in the home being built with and for them. Another club member expressed special pride in helping children like Polina, the Ukrainian youngster who we met just last month, and who, after her successful heart surgery, can now expect to be able to live a normal, hopefully long life. Mike then asked us to think about and share our ideas regarding new projects to initiate to help our community. He reminded us that this year's theme is:"Imagine Rotary". Sharon suggested that we should visit other clubs (perhaps while traveling). During visits to other clubs, she was inspired by a number of their projects and successfully initiated some here. Mike noted that the Rocky Point Rotary President has already reached out to him to possibly collaborate on service projects. Mike will be looking into this opportunity. Nancy reported that our pursuit of a new district grant is underway. The new project request is aimed at partially funding our maintenance of the Chandler Estate with the purchase of machinery that would facilitate periodic cleanups and care of the property. Dennis reminds us that next Tuesday, 8/9, is an OPEN CUPBOARD COLLECTION DAY. Please be generous. See the updated list of the pantry's needs below. What can you donate? How many Raffle Tickets have you sold? Sharon reminded us that the Past Presidents Dinner will take place on September 29th (honoring Rob Dooley), at Savino's, with festivities starting at 5 PM. Please RSVP to your invitations! Remember: each dues-paying club member is entitled to attend with a guest for free, while Corporate Members will have to choose a member to represent them. Others pay $60 to attend this event. All guests are welcome. Our ANNUAL RAFFLE DRAWING will take place at this dinner! Nancy reminds us that DUES ARE DUE. Another Reminder: the Port Jeff Station/Terryville Chamber of Commerce-sponsored "Summer Concert Wednesdays", FREE events from 6-8 PM, are being held at the newly refurbished Chamber Train Car Park. Deb announced that appearing on the new stage Tomorrow, Aug. 3rd: " Shakespeare in the Park": "The Taming of the Shrew" will be presented by a professional acting troupe. Bring your family and chairs. (Visit PJSTChamber.com or call 631-821-1313 for more info.) Mike reported that Paul Ryan, a Village resident, expressed an interest in joining our club. Only problem: Paul works in Manhattan on Tuesdays. Mike will try to work something out with Paul. Rob and Mike will be updating member roles and responsabilities. Saranto's opportunity to be today's Sergeant led him to choose as his topic for questions "What is Rotary?" He momentarily stumped a number of our members with questions like "What year was Rotary founded?" "By whom was it founded?" "Why is the Rotary symbol a wheel?" "What was the 1st completed Rotary project?", etc. Next, he collected Happy Dollars from members who enjoyed recent vacations/travels, who were looking forward to traveling, who welcomed visitors, who recouperated from illness, and who looked forward to hearing from our young speaker. Al related a "happy dollar story" about a past visit to Chicago near the Rotary Center. Honor was scheduled to play at a ceremonial gathering, but their rental car was stolen. It was, however, found and returned intact: a happy ending. Nancy initiated a return to a formerly popular club game of chance. We each received 3 small raffle tickets when we signed in. Today's guest speaker would pick out from a pile of tickets the winning one. The raffle ticket winner would then get to pick a card from a fresh pack of 52 cards plus jokers. The object is to draw any card but a Joker (a penalty of $5), and to hope to pick the Ace of Spades and win the pot. Today's pot began with $10. Nancy's ticket won the opportunity to pick a card. It was neither a Joker nor an Ace of spades. The card she picked will be eliminated from the pack. Next week the pot will grow, and another one of us will get a chance to pick a card. (The number of cards will dwindle each week while the pot grows- until the Ace is found.) After we were served and consumed our lunches, Mike introduced Sam Kopcienski, who was prepared to tell us about the Port Jefferson/Mt. Sinai High Schools' Robotics Team, of which he is a proud member. The Robotics Club, or Team, has the objective of building a robot that can successfully compete with those created by other teams in regional, state, and eventually national competitions. Team members, mostly from high schools, learn to use their STEM skills cooperatively to work through problems and try to build a better robot than the competitors. Last year, Sam's team did not have enough funding to compete at their best. Their robot broke, and they couldn't replace necessary parts. Sam explained that Robotics Teams usual provide "a home" for students who usually aren't part of or don't fit into other groups/clubs/teams. Robotics programs promote teamwork and cooperative learning situations for youngsters who tend to be looking for meaningful role models while forming relationships and preparing for a STEM career. Teams incorporate academic, occupational, and fine arts skills while experiencing real-life situations and following specific guidelines and deadlines. They learn real world skills and get to work closely with like-minded teenagers to solve problems. Sam told us about FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), a non-profit organization centered in New Hampshire that was founded by inventor and businessman Dean Kamen in order to inspire youth to pursue further studies and careers in science and technology. Robotics Teams are open to students aged 14-18 or in grades 9-12. Teams form in the fall and usually attract 15-25 members. The competition kick-off is in January when teams receive a kit of parts that all teams will use to build their robots. The teams design and build a robot that can weigh up to 120 lbs. during a 6-week time frame, following a common set of rules and challenges. The goal- what the robot must accomplish- is changed each year. Sam explained that robot building through teamwork "is a fun experience, but expensive." Robot parts cost a lot. Older teams help younger ones. Competitions are fierce. January through April team members work on their robot for many hours daily. Once these "young inventor" teams complete their robots so that they are geared to accomplish a specific task in competition with other robots, they can participate in the LI Regional Competition, which takes place at Hofstra. Around 40 local teams compete over a 3 day period. While their robots perform, usually large numbers of fans cheer them on. The contest includes 2 short games played by the robots, at which time the students program and remotely control the robots in competition rounds on the playing field. Sam pointed out in the brochure he handed out the significant cost of building the robot and then competing. Registration for regional competition, including the Kit of Parts and FIRST team support is $6,500. Additional parts, tools, and shop materials could cost $2,500. Other costs adding to the budget: practice field components ($300); a robot cart ($100); travel costs, including bus transport to the Regional for 3 days ($1,000); team tee shirts and marketing materials for family, fans, etc.($300); and post season events possibly attracting press coverage ($500)- yielding a total of $11,200. In addition to building a robot, the team must raise funds to pay all of the expected costs. Teams begin with funds received from the sponsoring school district. Port Jefferson Schools contribute approximately $7,000. Mt. Sinai's contribution is approximately $2,500. Other contributions amount to $700. Sam, on behalf of his team, is requesting of our club a donation of $1,500-$2,000. This will fund spare parts (last year a broken part couldn't be fixed and there was no money for replacement), tools (last year, the team had to borrow tools constantly), and transportation and community outreach. Sam told us that companies and corporations often sponsor teams, and their logos are used in "branding opportunities". The kickoff is in January'23. The challenge will be announced. Sam and his teammates are very much looking forward to the upcoming challenge. After his presentation, Sam answered many questions. Among them: Yes, there are female team members. Companies often offer senior Robotics Team members the possibility of future paid specialized studies and jobs. President Mike assured Sam that our club is interested in being a team sponsor. A proposal will be made to our Donations Committee, and Mike will eventually let Sam know how much money we can donate to this cause.  |
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