Loveland, Ohio – Three St. Columban students earned Broadcom Masters Top 300 recognition for their science fair projects last year. Mario Ferreri is in 8th grade this year and Jake Terrell and Brendan McPheron are now high school freshmen.
Ben McPheron is the junior high science teacher who guided the students as they created their projects.
Broadcom Foundation and Society for Science & the Public has announced the Top 300 MASTERS in their 10th annual Broadcom MASTERS. The program claims it is the nation’s premier Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) competition for middle school students. They seeks to inspire young scientists, engineers and innovators to solve the grand challenges of the 21st century.
Each of the Top 300 MASTERS will receive a $125 award from DoD STEM. With this new prize, the Department of Defense continues its support of youth in STEM, working towards a more diverse pipeline of highly qualified STEM professionals in the future.
The Top 300 MASTERS were selected from the largest pool of applicants the competition has seen, with 3,476 students from 42 states and Puerto Rico.
Science fairs across the country had to cancel their competitions in the spring of 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In reaction, the Society and Broadcom Foundation opened up the Broadcom MASTERS competition to any student who registered to compete in a Society-affiliated science fair. Previously, only students who are named in the top 10% of their science fair were eligible to enter.
“Every Middle School student who had the passion and fortitude to complete his or her science or engineering project with hardships imposed to schooling and research is a hero and heroine in our eyes, and the Top 300 Broadcom MASTERS semifinalists exemplify their remarkable grit,” said Paula Golden, President of Broadcom Foundation. “They inspire us all and give us hope for the future.”
In addition to the $125 cash prize, the Top 300 Broadcom MASTERS received a prize package containing an award ribbon; semifinalist certificate of accomplishment; Broadcom MASTERS backpack; a Broadcom MASTERS decal; a specialized Invention Journal, courtesy of The Lemelson Foundation; a one-year subscription to Wolfram Mathematica software, courtesy of Wolfram Research; a special prize from Jeff Glassman, CEO of Covington Capital Management; and a one-year family digital subscription to Science News magazine. In recognition of the role that teachers play in the success of their students, each designated teacher also will receive a Broadcom MASTERS tote bag; a special edition booklet of Science News for Students’ Invention & Innovation articles from The Lemelson Foundation; and a one-year digital subscription to Science News magazine.
Students in the VEX Robotics Program at Loveland High School started working on their current robots last summer and will continue to refine them throughout the 2019-20 competition season.
Loveland, Ohio – It may be just a few days before Christmas, but teams from Loveland High School (LHS) and Loveland Middle School (LMS) will be competing with more than 40 other teams from across the region in the VEX Robotics Competition at LHS on December 21, officially kicking off their tournament season. The seven Loveland teams have been hard at work preparing for the 2019-2020 season.
“This game has many challenging aspects, including robot design, programming, and game strategy,” said LHS Robotics Coordinator Amy Stewart.
In the competition, teams of students will use their own designed and built robots to compete against other teams in a game-based engineering challenge. This year’s VEX Robotics game, “Tower Takeover,” is played on a 12’x12’ square field with the object of attaining a higher score than the opposing alliance by placing cubes in towers or scoring cubes in goals.
“This game has many challenging aspects, including robot design, programming, and game strategy,” said LHS Robotics Coordinator Amy Stewart.
The matches on December 21 start at 9:45 AM and the event concludes with an awards ceremony around 4 PM.
The competition is open to the public and free of charge.
The competition tests the students’ knowledge of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) concepts, inspiring them to bring their best problem-solving skills to the table while simultaneously building on teamwork, leadership, and communication skills for life. Tournaments are held throughout the year at the regional, state and national levels, with an eye toward the VEX Robotics World Championship, which is held annually in April.
The matches on December 21 start at 9:45 AM and the event concludes with an awards ceremony around 4 PM.
The competition is open to the public and free of charge.
To learn more about this year’s competition game, visit vexrobotics.com.
For more information about programs available to students at Loveland, visit Loveland Robotics at lovelandrobotics.wixsite.com.
As we launch a new school year at Loveland City Schools, I am particularly grateful to our community, which continues to support and invest in the greater good, especially for our children. Last week, more than 100 community members volunteered to prepare the playground at Loveland Early Childhood Center for our youngest Tigers to enjoy their first recess. And the community’s involvement has been evident throughout the past several years as hundreds of residents provided input in the district’s facility master planning process, where we extensively researched, assessed and vetted the district’s building and infrastructure needs, ultimately developing a plan that will adequately prepare our graduates.
Dr. Amy Crouse is the Loveland City School District Superintendent
The message heard from the community was clear: Loveland Schools must continue the positive momentum in academic achievement, yet the aging buildings need renovations and upgrades. With teachers using mobile carts and hallways for instruction and temporary trailer classrooms to absorb our overcrowded classrooms, we must modernize our facilities for our children and our community to have a strong future. The Loveland community expects a high-quality education and the reality is that we need to upgrade and expand science and technology laboratories to prepare students for college and 21st-century careers.
The plan put forth and adopted unanimously by the Board of Education is cost-effective and unique to Loveland’s current and future needs. The plan:
reduces our reliance on trailers as classrooms and mobile carts and hallways for teaching;
provides safer and more secure learning environments at all of our schools with secure entrances, camera systems and electronically-activated locks to prevent intrusions;
updates and expands offerings of science, technology, engineering and math programs that are increasingly mandatory for colleges and careers.
The bottom line is, we do a great job of maintaining our buildings and infrastructure, but we are to the point where it’s more costly to maintain than it is to upgrade or, in some cases, rebuild. The district’s facility needs will not go away; they will only increase in cost. There is no zero-cost option and without this levy investment we will need to continue diverting funds from the classroom so that we can make critical fixes in our schools.
Strong schools mean a strong community, and I encourage everyone to make sure our schools are as strong as possible by joining us over the next couple of months at community conversations. Please see www.lovelandschools.org for all scheduled events. There will be a presentation at Loveland High School on September 12 at 7 p.m. where residents can learn more about the November 5th ballot issue and why it’s needed now. And, as always, please feel free to contact me directly with questions.
Loveland’s Bionic Tigers won multiple awards at the West Central Pennsylvania Qualifying Tournament and will be competing in the Pennsylvania State Championship in March
Loveland’s FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) team 10464, The Bionic Tigers, competed in the West Central Pennsylvania Qualifying Tournament on December 8 in Johnstown, PA. The team won the Connect Award for “the team that most connects with their local science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) community” and won second place in the Inspire Award. The Inspire Award is the top award given at an FTC competition and is presented to the team that best “embodies the ‘challenge’ of the FIRST Tech Challenge Program.” Out of the 24 registered teams in the competition, 10464 also received third place for the Think, Design and Motivate Awards.
Based on their Inspire Award placement, the Bionic Tigers advanced to the Pennsylvania State Championship Tournament on March 2-3.
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Loveland Robotics is hosting two tournaments during the 2018-19 season
December 22 and January 5
Loveland, Ohio – Loveland Robotics is hosting two tournaments during the 2018-19 season.
The first is the Loveland Robotics VEX Holiday Tournament on December 22, 2018, and it is a VEX Robotics Competition (VRC) Tournament for Middle School and High School VEX teams. Forty teams from across Ohio can sign will compete to advance to the Ohio Vex Robotics Championship.It will take place at Loveland High School with matches starting around 9 AM. Loveland has 4 high school VEX teams and 3 middle school VEX teams that will be participating in the tournament.
VEX Robotics is a competitive robotics program, presented by the Robotics Education & Competition Foundation, for middle schools, high schools and colleges around the world. The VEX Robotics Design System is used in many classrooms around the world. There are currently more than 10,000 teams from 32 countries participating in more than 750 VEX Robotics Competition events worldwide. The competition season culminates each Spring, with the laudable VEX Robotics World Championship event, uniting top qualifying teams from local, state and international VEX Robotics Competitions.
The second tournament Loveland Robotics is hosting is the FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Cincinnati District Tournament on January 5, 2019. It is hosted by the two Loveland teams, FTC Teams, Team 10464 The Bionic Tigers and Team 5040 Nuts & Bolts to help promote STEM in our community. The FLL District tournament is a second level tournament for teams who have advanced from a regional qualifying tournament. Thirty teams of students in grade 4-9 from across the area will be competing, and the top teams will advance to the Ohio FLL Championship.
FIRST, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, was founded in 1989 by Dean Kamen to inspire young people’s interest and participation in science and technology. The mission of FIRST is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders by engaging them in four exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded capacities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership. The sequence of FIRST programs in the United States begins with the FIRST LEGO League Jr. program serving elementary school-aged youth (ages 6-9), followed by the FIRST LEGO League (FLL) program serving primarily middle school-aged youth (ages 9-14), the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) serving grades 7-12, and FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC), serving high school-aged youth (grades 9-12). In the 2018 FIRST Longitudinal Study, FIRST reported that over 515,000 young people participated in its programs on more than 59,000 teams, competing in more than 2,900 tournaments worldwide.
In the photo above is Loveland High School’s Team 5040
Back row (L to R) Jacob Chiarenzelli, Jackson Daumeyer, Loveland Superintendent Dr. Amy Crouse, Bryce Reinhold, Nate Matuszak, Chad Royal; Middle row (L to R) Kai Reinhold, Haley Dues, Matt Spitzley, Ben Kavouras; Back row (L to R) Stephanie Spitzley, Garrett Royal, Cooper Baumgarth and Kat Sanderson
More Than 40,000 people attended to watch, including 15,000 students ages 6-18 Compete with Team-Built Robots
Detroit– Last week, more than 15,000 students from around the world traveled to Detroit, putting their innovation skills to the test at the annual FIRST Championship Presented by Qualcomm® Incorporated, held at the Cobo Center and Ford Field, including Team 5040 from Loveland High School.
In the championship Loveland 5040 went undefeated in qualifying rounds and won the Ochoa division semifinals. The team ended their season as one of the top 12 teams with an impressive record of 82-10.
The four-day event came down to a heart-pounding conclusion Saturday night in front of thousands of cheering fans at Ford Field when teams competed in match finals for the FIRST® Robotics Competition and FIRST® Tech Challenge world championships. Four teams from Kalamazoo, Michigan; Clarkston, Michigan; Kingston, Ontario, Canada; and State College, Pennsylvania, were the FIRST Robotics Competition Winning Alliance for this year’s game, FIRST POWER UPSM. Teams from Lexington, Massachusetts; Baden, Pennsylvania; and Lexington, Massachusetts, were the FIRST Tech Challenge RELIC RECOVERYSM Winning Alliance.
Loveland 5040 earned their spot in Detroit by first qualifying through Ohio as the State Champion. The team then competed in the North Super Regional with the best 72 teams from 13 states where Loveland 5040 finished in the finalist alliance advancing them to Detroit.
“After watching the students in action in Detroit – I think I can officially say Team 5040 has made me a robotics groupie,” said Loveland Superintendent Dr. Amy Crouse, who Tweeted updates as the team progressed. “We are sincerely so very proud of this team, and we know they will return even bigger and better next year as the organization continues to grow.”
Students ages 6-18 participated in FIRST Championship Detroit. FIRST Championship, the world’s largest celebration of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) for students, kicked off last week with 15,000 students in Houston.
Among the participants, many earned honors for design excellence, competitive play, research, business plans, website design, and teamwork. A not-for-profit organization founded in 1989 by inventor Dean Kamen, FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) inspires innovation and leadership in young people through engaging, team-based robotics challenges. Kamen invented of the segway.
In Detroit, 700 robotics teams from 37 countries across the four FIRST programs participated. More than 91,000 students on 3,650 teams from 37 countries competed during the 2018 season.
FIRST President Donald E. Bossi said: We’re marking the culmination of another fantastic FIRST season, and once again, we’ve had fantastic growth. More than half-a-million young people directly participated in our programs, which engaged 61,000 teams, an impressive 23 percent increase from just last year. We will not stop [growing] until all students have access to the education and experiences that FIRST programs provide.
“On behalf of my team I want to say a very special thank you to Superintendent Dr. Amy Crouse and LHS Principal Peggy Johnson for traveling to Detroit to watch us compete,” said LHS student and team member Garrett Royal. “They are some of our biggest supporters, and we are grateful to them. We also want to thank former athletic director, Juliann Renner, who supported us like we were one of her athletic teams, and LHS Teacher Phil Marchal and volunteer Mark Chast for starting and coaching this team seven years ago. We are thankful for your vision and leadership that has touched so many students over the years.”
Her Excellency the Right Honourable Julie Payette, Governor General of Canada, addressed FIRST supporters: What you do right here at FIRST is extraordinarily important. It’s not just about robotics. It’s not just about science. It’s about people. It’s about collaborating. It’s about making it happen. It’s about forming teams, mentoring teams, sharing your experience.Whether you are a volunteer, a donator, a sponsor, a supporter, a participant, a parent, a teacher, you make a difference, and here we just use the incredible world of science and technology to do so and we prepare the future in so many different ways.
FIRST Tech Challenge students learn to think like engineers. Teams build robots from a reusable kit of parts, develop strategies, document their progress, and compete head to head. In the 2017-18 game, FIRST RELIC RECOVERY, teams work in an alliance to go on a robot adventure. The goal is to score more points than the opposing alliance during 150 seconds of game play that includes autonomous and driver-controlled periods.
Their performance at the FIRST World Championship earned Loveland 5040 an exclusive invitation to compete over the summer at the Maryland Technical Invitational (MTI). At MTI teams from all over the world will meet for a weekend of competition and learning. Scientists and engineers from the Space Sector of Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory will speak about two of their cutting-edge missions, New Horizons and Dragonfly.
Team 5040, Nuts & Bolts, Loveland, Ohio was a Division Finalists in the Ochoa Division:
“It has been an amazing year, and we couldn’t have done it without incredible support,” said LHS Teacher and Robotics Coordinator Amy Stewart. “I want to send a huge thank you to Coach Chad Royal, Mentors Peter Kavouras, Eric Spitzley and Chris Reinhold.”
Want to be a part of Loveland Robotics?
The Loveland Robotics Teams are very grateful for all businesses that support them and we are looking for additional sponsors. Sponsorship can take many forms, from expertise in a specific field to materials to financial assistance.
Our Team Business Plan provides information about all aspects of our FTC teams. Questions about the Business Plan or any of the Teams can be sent to Amy Stewart at stewaram@lovelandschools.org.
Loveland, OH– Loveland Robotics Team 5040 has found success this season, leading them to compete against teams from over sixty different countries at FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) worlds. Loveland will compete against 120 teams with an average of ten players per team. The competition in Detroit, Michigan is a result of three local tournaments and a state championship where the team was chosen to advance.
The team has been preparing since September, The team meets three nights a week, and individuals often meet outside of officially scheduled robotics meetings. The team has been perfecting their robot for eight months and their hard work will pay off in the attendance of the World Competition from April 24th-28th.
Loveland Robotics Team 5040 Back Row: Jackson Daumeyer, Ben Kavouras, Bryce Reinhold, Garrett Royal, Jacob Chiarenzelli, Matthew Spitzley, Nate Matuszak, Kat Sanderson Front Row: Kai Reinhold, Haley Dues, Stephanie Spitzley, Cooper Baumgarth
“This competition gives us the opportunity to interact with the next generation of STEM professionals while providing a unique challenge to help us grow in all aspects from building a robot to communication skills,” Senior, Garrett Royal explained.
Team 5040 prepares to test new changes to their robot
FTC Robotics is an organization backed by tech and STEM companies that challenge 7-12th-grade students to design, build, program and operate robots in order to overcome a specific obstacle. The program aims to help teach students about the growing STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields and encourage improvement in communication, problem-solving and leadership. While building robots is at the core of the program, students must also fight for sponsorships and coordinate money management.
There are roughly forty students in the Loveland Robotics program, and 12 on team 5040. Within 5040, there are subteams focused on building, programming and business. Each subteam has a leader who keeps their group on-task and moving forward. The teams are overseen by Loveland engineering teacher, Ms. Amy Stewart.
The robotics team meets on a Sunday afternoon to improve and plan
The mechanical guts of team 5040’s 2018 build
Each year in September, a new FTC challenge, or “game”, is announced. This year, teams compete in a game called Relic Recover. The teams are challenged to stack cubes called Glyphs into a 3×4 “Cryptobox”. Specific patterns allow teams to earn more points. Additionally, there is a plastic figure known as a “relic” that the robot is programmed to pick up and move over a wall in order to increase points. The goal is to move the relic as far as possible.
“We do a lot of drive practice. We run match after match, trying to get faster and more consistent at each element of the game. This has helped us learn how to manage problems and what to expect during actual competition. Our drivers have been able to master their controls, which is something a lot of other teams do not have as much practice in,” Senior, Haley Dues explained.
Team 5040 practices building a Cryptobox. Different brown/white patterns are placed into the vertical 3×4 box for varying points.
Last year, the two robotics teams also found success– Team 10464 competed in the State Tournament for the second straight year, and Team 5040 traveled to the World Championship marking the first time in Loveland history a team has competed on the world level.
An arm extends a piece of the challenge over the arena wall
Although the prize for winning worlds is just a trophy (and bragging rights), the team sees it as an exciting opportunity.
“Every robot has something unique about it and it’s fun to talk to people who are just as nerdy about robots as you,” Bryce Reinhold explained in regards to the Worlds competition.
Application packets for the Loveland robotics team can be picked up by interested high schools students from Ms. Stewart in room 128 and are due April 20th.
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(First row, L to R:) Loveland High School (LHS) Teacher Phil Marchal, Loveland Interim Superintendent Dr. Amy Crouse, University of Cincinnati (UC) Director of School of Information Technology (IT) Dr. Hazem Said, LHS Principal Peggy Johnson; (Second row, L to R:) Patrick Keyser, Sogeti USA, Loveland Board of Education President Art Jarvis, Loveland Board of Education Vice President Dr. Kathryn Lorenz, Loveland Board of Education Member Eileen Washburn, Loveland Director of Secondary Programs Andrea Conner, UC Graduate Coordinator and Project Manager School of IT Lauren Kirgis
Pathway program will be ready for fall 2018
Loveland, Ohio– With cameras rolling to capture the significant moment, Loveland Interim Superintendent Dr. Amy Crouse and University of Cincinnati (UC) Director of School of Information Technology Dr. Hazem Said made formal the new partnership between the educational institutions that will equip the Loveland City School District to offer college-level Information Technology (IT) course work to high school students. The formal signing ceremony took place just before the State of Schools Open House Thursday, Feb. 22, at Loveland High School.
“This partnership places Loveland students in a unique position for advanced learning opportunities that will qualify for college credit – a win for our families both academically and financially with the ever increasing student-loan debt that UC is sensitive to,” said Dr. Crouse. “We are simply thrilled to sit at the table with a school as premier as UC.”
“The UC Information Technology Early College program is a unique and innovative program that will enable Loveland students to complete the first year of the UC BSIT program in high school,” said Dr. Said. “Those who receive a C or above will receive automatic admission to the BSIT program to study Software Development, Cybersecurity, Networking/Systems and Game Development & Simulation. We are excited to work with the leaders at Loveland City Schools to make this program available to Loveland parents and students.”
The partnership with UC creates an Information Technology (IT) Academic Pathway for Loveland High School (LHS) students, and is part of the district’s strategic plan to bring Academic Pathways to Loveland students beginning in middle school. LHS students will have access to post-secondary IT coursework starting in ninth grade. LHS students will have the ability to earn college credit through the College Credit Plus (CCP) program, and Advanced Placement (AP) courses.
“Ultimately this partnership enables LHS students taking these courses to earn a masters degree through UC with only four years of college; it includes the courses they take through their senior year of high school plus four years of college,” explained Loveland Director of Secondary Programs Andrea Conner. “It also provides our Tiger students with the opportunity to apply for paid co-ops related to their course work the summer following their senior year.”
Along with having the IT Pathway ready for fall of 2018, the district has clearly defined Academic Pathways for careers in: Arts, Audio/Video Technology and Communication; Business Management and Administration; Health Science; and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics – with the phase-in of additional pathways in the 2018-2019 school year.
