The ‘Bot Blog
A Robo-Halloween | Community Service
Last month, the Robotics Team had the honor of taking part in Lindenhurst High School’s annual Safe Halloween event, which was held outdoors in the high school’s parking lot the Friday before Halloween. Each participating club is asked to set up a table and hand out candy to elementary students as a means of providing a safer trick-or-treating experience than traveling door-to-door. Clubs are also asked to decorate car trunks, with the Team 533 choosing the popular video game “Among Us” as the theme, while painting the characters in Marvel superhero costumes.
The team also took this as an opportunity to display our robot, which the trick-or-treaters posed for pictures with while our members distributed Halloween candy. After roughly four hours, the team had handed out candy to hundreds of elementary students and spoke with dozens of families about our team (and more specifically, our robot). See the gallery above for photos from the event!
*All LUFSD and CDC Covid-19 guidelines were followed at this event*
Robo-Recruitment | Outreach
With Lindenhurst Public School transitioning from in-person to online learning for the majority of 2020 and 2021, Team 533 found a new difficulty resulting from having virtual meetings: recruitment. As a result of not being able to meet in-person or afterschool, the Robotics Team, along with all other after-school activities, saw a significant decline in membership in comparison to pre-COVID numbers. However, with school returning to in-person classes, our team was able to participate in our first ever outdoor Club-Fair, where we were able to successfully recruit over twenty new members. Welcome to all the new PSIcotics!
*All LUFSD and CDC Covid-19 guidelines were followed at this event*
Help at Homecoming | Community Service
On Saturday, October 16th, 2021, the PSIcotics took part in the Lindenhurst Union Free School District’s annual Homecoming parade, where our team had the pleasure of aiding the senior class with their float. In Lindenhurst tradition, each school in the district, along with each grade-level class in the high school, build Homecoming floats corresponding to a particular theme, which are then driven from Fireman’s Park to Lindenhurst Middle School for judging.
The Seniors, the Class of 2022, had designed their float after the movie Up, following suit with the theme of Disney movies. The Robotics Team’s contributions consisted mainly of moving elements, which included the head of a character, a fan to simulate wind, a fog machine for waterfall mist, and balloons rising from the chimney of the main house. Though we are always happy for the opportunity to aid another high school group, we are proud to announce that the Seniors’ float placed 1st! Scroll through the gallery above for pictures from the event.
*All LUFSD and CDC COVID-19 guidelines were followed at this event*
Going Bald for St. Baldrick’s | Community Service
For our first community service event of 2021, FRC Team 533, The PSIcotics decided to go big and organize a fundraiser for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, a non-profit organization that raises funds for pediatric cancer research. In true St. Baldrick’s tradition, participants are encouraged to fundraise by volunteering to shave their head as a means of raising awareness for pediatric cancer.
As the first St. Baldrick’s fundraiser Lindenhurst Senior High School has seen since 2016, we challenged numerous clubs and classes from our school to create teams where students and staff could join as participants or volunteers as part of a friendly competition to see who could raise the most money. On March 27th, all teams gathered virtually via Zoom for our Virtual Head-Shave Event, where pledged “shavees” had their heads shaved LIVE via a YouTube Livestream, while team volunteers cheered them on for an at-home audience.
Of all the teams that participated, Team 533 placed atop the Team Leaderboard, raising $2,352.50. Topping the Participant Leaderboard, however, was Megan Scharf of the Student Council Team, who raised the most funds individually with $1,785.60. Despite our initial fundraising goal of $2,500, we were able to raise over $5,000 for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, with 100% of the proceeds going towards research.
To learn more about this event, visit our event page on the St. Baldrick’s website at: www.stbaldricks.org/events/LHS2021.
The PSIcotics Take On Safe Halloween | Community Service
Dozens of teams and clubs from the high school, including Team533, set up tables and decorated car trunks to participate. Facial coverings were required, and our members were happy to hand out goodie bags of candy, all of which were prepared while wearing gloves and face masks, to the appreciative children and parents. Scroll through the gallery above to see how it went!
An Update from FRC Team 533 | The COVID-19 Pandemic
Hi there! Long time no see. You’ve probably been wondering where all these PSIcotic highschoolers went, but don’t worry, we’re still here! Back in March, when the COVID-19 pandemic was gaining momentum, our first competition of the 2020 season, which took us all the way to the Rochester Institute of Technology, was cut short. Upon arriving home, Team 533 decided to take a short break out of precaution, while taking the last few months to care for our families and loved ones. Our team places the health and safety of our members as a top priority, and after careful consideration, we have decided the team was ready to meet again, just not in-person.
Every Friday evening at 7 PM, our team gathers on Google Meets with incoming members to discuss the goings on of our daily lives and how the club will move forward. Now that school has returned to in-person learning (sort of), we have begun planning events, including ways to give back during these trying times. Though the 2020 season was eventually canceled, FIRST recently issued a statement that the 2020 game would instead be tweaked, with a similar game being played next year. As we work towards a return to normality, we ask that you all stay safe and healthy. You’ll be hearing more from us very soon!