March 27th – Sunday Morning – We had a full day yesterday.  Students were up and out of Space Camp by 9 am.  We had a real lucky break.  It turned out that the FRC (First Robotics Competition) Regional was being held in Huntsville at the Von Braun Center.  It was free and open to the public so we decided to take the students there instead of going to the Botanical Gardens.  About a third of the students on our trip have been or are involved in SAS robotics at the Middle School or HS level so the opportunity to see the “big” boy robotics at work was really exciting. There were over 50 teams from the southeast United States and elsewhere competing in the 3 day event.  We were able to get a tour of the pit area and watch about 45 minutes of the head to head missions as the big robots went at it.  Our students were broken down into 3 groups.  I was fortunate to be the middle school boy group and our tour leader was a member of team “Bomb Squad” which was ranked number 1 while we were there.  The YouTube Video of the competition is below for any that are interested.

The robotics and the site was really a great opportunity for our robot oriented students.

Following the Robotic viewing we loaded back on the bus and headed for Bridge Street Mall.  Students were able to get a quick lunch and decide on the movie to watch.  22 students went with Mrs. Boyer to watch Batman and Superman movie.  5 students went with me to see Zoopotopia.  I think I got the better movie.  Following the movies which let out about 5 pm students were able to grab a quick supper then we were transported back to Space camp.

Students transferred from their temporary rooms into their rooms for the rest of the week. The amount of pine pollen in the air is causing some students some sniffles. Regular Camp begins at lunch today with registration.  In that our students are already in, their transfer will be easy.  I will pick up the group leaders paperwork this afternoon.  The students do not receive a schedule, but Sunday afternoon will be orientation to the program and some tours of the facility.  On Monday along with other activities both the HS team and the MS team will be split into mission control groups and flight groups.  They will begin their preflight preparation for their first launch on Tuesday.  I will be there on Tuesday in in the leader viewing area to watch and I hope record their mission.

So far all are holding up ok and are getting sleep during the night.  I checked in with them this morning when they were having breakfast. Some of the students have picked up some coughs/sniffles from the flight over.  The Camp infirmary is watching them. I have let the students know that if they are not feeling well, to let their group leader know. I have one student with a fever (Eric) and he is being monitored in the infirmary this morning.  I will check back with the Camp at lunch and supper tonight to see how the students are doing.  As a chaperone, I don’t get to see all the activities the students/teams are doing, but I hope to catch each of their launch missions.  I will get pictures through the week as I am able and the camp photographers will give us a photo disk of all their activities that we will bring back to SAS.