Team 303

In a Nutshell
FRC Team 303: The TEST Team
Judges Booklet / 2014
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Team 303 in a Nutshell
Its not about the robot
-Paul Kloberg
Team 303 Faculty Advisor
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2014 Judges Booklet
PHILOSOPHY
Team 303 aims to inspire, educate,
and help its community. We do this
through networking within our school,
many programs to connect with our
community, and working to produce the
strongest students possible.
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Team 303 in a Nutshell
4-H FAIR
Its always a pleasure for the team to
appear at the Somerset County 4-H Fair.
During the 2013 fair, 303 took a larger
role in the science tent by hosting FRC
and FTC demonstrations, as well as
helping run a game to inspire the 4-H
LEGO clubs to form FLL teams. We also
designed and built an outdoor robot
demonstration platform to make it
easier for us and other teams to drive
their robots outside.
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2014 Judges Booklet
MIDDLE SCHOOL TECHNICAL DESIGN
CHALLENGE
Every year, Team 303 hosts the Middle
School Technical Design Challenge. A
big purpose of this event is to inspire
smaller LEGO-based clubs or classes to
form FLL teams. We also use it as a way
to allow new FLL teams to get practice
as a team, so when the challenge comes
out, the kids have experience working
together.
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Team 303 in a Nutshell
BRIDGEWATER-RARITAN MAR DISTRICT
Team 303 did what it could to make
the MAR district that we host the best
one imaginable. We did this by going
above and beyond the core event with a
variety of fun add-ons. We had a spirit,
a gaming table with fun guess the
number in this container games, a fun
Microsoft table, a celebrity appearance
to bring in a new audience, and several
rafes. We also had a book, cell phone,
and glasses drive to make an even
larger positive impact.
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2014 Judges Booklet
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Team 303 in a Nutshell
OPERATION: SHOEBOX
The team has recently formed a
partnership with the local Veterans
of Foreign War organization. The
organization sponsors the team, came
out to our FRC district to support us,
and we helped them with a huge event,
Operation: Shoebox. The team helped
pack over 800 care packages for troops
overseas.
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2014 Judges Booklet
FLL EVENT
Every year, Team 303 runs a large FLL
event. The members work one on one
with the teams, getting them to judging
appointments and matches, and making
sure both the students on FRC and FLL
have opportunities to learn. This year,
the event had a team we started at our
middle school that was the runner up
for the Project Award.
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Team 303 in a Nutshell
PRESENTATIONS
Making FIRST loud is an important
task for Team 303. Whenever the
opportunity springs up, we love to talk
about FIRST to people of all age groups.
Whether its a short-notice after school
presentation to Girl Scouts, or hundreds
of elementary school kids at one of our
districts science fairs, Team 303 does
not take spreading the word of FIRST
lightly.
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2014 Judges Booklet
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Team 303 in a Nutshell
FTC EVENTS
While Team 303s primary competition
is FRC, it makes sure to support the
FTC community as well. Outside of
parenting two award-winning FTC
teams, the team runs two FTC meets
every year, as well as an outreach event.
The meets are so large, that it may be
hard to tell them apart from qualifers.
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2014 Judges Booklet
MICROSOFT STORE GAME NIGHTS
One of the newest and biggest
additions to the Team 303 family is
the local Microsoft Store. The store
has been a big part in supporting
the growth of the team through
a sponsorship, appearance at our
FRC district, and letting us use their
facilities for eight annual game nights
to help spread the word of FIRST,
increase our teams presence in the
community, and provide a fun activity
for people at the mall.
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Team 303 in a Nutshell
ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON HOSPITAL
Recently, Team 303 had the honor of
hosting a table at the Rutgers university
dance marathon. The team brought its
FTC robots for the children there to
drive. We gave away buttons, stress
balls, and books; and overall tried
to give the kids from Robert Wood
Johnson an even better day.
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2014 Judges Booklet
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Team 303 in a Nutshell
SUPERSTORM SANDY SUPPLY DRIVE
In order to help the relief efort from
Superstorm sandy, the team organized
and executed a large supply drive in
just over a week. We were able to send
a truck full of supplies to help Staten
Island, one of the most damaged areas.
PRACTICE FIELD
We are fortunate to have a large
warehouse to build our robot in. The
warehouse can support an entire FRC
practice feld along with all of our
machines and workspace. We allow
other teams to come in, and use our
homemade feld, so that way, teams can
eliminate unpleasant surprises at their
frst competition.
PHYSICS CURRICULUM
Team 303 made engineering a bigger
part of its own school by working
to start the Engineering Technology
honors course. The course goes over
basic topics in engineering in order
to give students an opportunity to get
a head start on their future careers.
We also injected engineering into the
physics curriculum with a unit based of
of Woodie Flowers 2007 course at MIT.
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2014 Judges Booklet
LABVIEW PROGRAMMING WORKSHOPS
Team 303 has a borderline
encyclopedic knowledge of LabView.
We run programming workshops at
our warehouse in order to spread that
knowledge to other teams.
VARSITY STATUS
The team is in its third season as a
varsity team, and now, we even have
robotics-specifc sportsman jackets.
We have ofcial school banners in the
gym with all the conventional sports
banners, and our FIRST blue banners in
the library.
SUPPORTING OTHER FRC TEAMS
Last season, we started the rookie team
4546 in Dover, New Hampshire. We
reached across state borders through
video chats, emails, and other ways to
remotely mentor the new team. We are
also mentoring FRC team 613. Not all
teams have had the opportunites that
weve had, so we do what we can to
support the FRC community. Were also
helping FRC team 1676 reach varisty
status in their schools.
Ive never been able to give a straight answer as to why I joined the robotics team. My brother said I should
try it out, and it seemed interesting, but why I signed the forms after the frst meeting is still a mystery.
Fortunately, the reason I stay is much less ambiguous. I thought I would be building a robot, but I ended
up working towards building a better school, better community, and better world.
- Tyler Stark
Team 303 Robot/Competition Captain
I often wonder how I would have been if I never joined robotics; I always fail to come to a conclusion due
to the fact that robotics is who I was in high school. Imagining who I would be without it is like trying to
imagine what it would be like to be another person. Its just not possible.
- Ryan King
Team 303 Team Development Captain
Who are we? 303