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Robotics team wins top regional award, qualifies for world championships

Submitted by Karen Katz on Sun, 03/10/2013 - 8:13pm
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Congratulations!

The Catlin Gabel Flaming Chickens won the Chairman’s award for the fourth time! The team will go to the world championships in St. Louis, April 24–28. They've qualified for the world competition five out of six years, more than any other team in Oregon.

» Check out the Flaming Chicken's website for details

Middle School robotics teams take 1st and 2nd place at regionals, qualify for state

Submitted by Karen Katz on Mon, 12/10/2012 - 5:58pm
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Way to go!

Congratulations to the RoboSNAILS for their 1st place win in a tough competition against 20 teams. The team members are 8th graders Robin Attey, Matt Maynard, Grace Wong, Liam Wynne, and Sage Yamamoto. They are coached by senior Tucker Gordon. The RoboSNAILS’ research project was designing a website and iOS app to help senior citizens prepare nutritious meals and build community.

Team Sigma came in 2nd with 8th grade members Adolfo Apolloni, Ian Hoyt, Ryan Selden, and 7th grader Roy Stracovsky. Team Sigma had an over-the-top research project with a working model of a walker that senses the user’s location helps guide them. Junior Elyssa Kiva is their coach for the second year in a row.

Our two rookie teams also competed at regionals. Starstruck won the rising star award for the new team with the most promise. They are 6th graders Sujala Chittor, Natalie Dodson, and Amber Merrill. Their research project featured a puppet show presentation of a device that changes light bulbs. Senior Martina Dimitrov was their coach.

Sophomore Rushdi Abualhaija coached team Delta with 6th graders Avi Gupta, Tyler Nguyen, Quinn Okabayashi, Kian Palmer, and Spencer Shoemaker. Their research project was a working model of an Internet-programmed medication dispenser.

The state competition is on January 20. Good luck to the RoboSNAILS and Team Sigma!

Flaming Chickens robotics team on KGW-TV

Submitted by Nadine Fiedler on Thu, 09/13/2012 - 3:18pm
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KGW-TV news story, September 2012

Members of our Upper School robotics team, 1540 the Flaming Chickens, spent all weekend at OMSI's Mini Maker Faire September 15-16 talking to people about FIRST Robotics and Catlin Gabel. They also got up for a early 4:30 a.m. video shoot at OMSI to promote the faire.  Check it out.

Junior Marina Dimitrov named Dean's List winner at robotics world championships

Submitted by Karen Katz on Tue, 05/01/2012 - 4:02pm
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Congratulations, Marina!

Flaming Chickens robotics team co-captain Marina Dimitrov was was one of 10 Dean’s List winners worldwide at the robotics championships in St. Louis. She is the first student from Oregon to win this award for leadership, commitment, technical expertise, and entrepreneurship. The award includes a weeklong trip to a FIRST leadership conference, personally written letters of recommendation to the colleges of her choice, and $1,000 toward the team’s registration fees for next year’s world championships.

Comments

Submitted by Lisa Unsworth on Wed, 05/02/2012 - 8:44am.

Marina leads the way with a fantastic team effort! Congratulations!

Catlin Gabel News Winter 2010-11

Submitted by Nadine Fiedler on Mon, 04/04/2011 - 1:28pm
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From the Winter 2010-11 Caller

NEWS FROM AROUND HONEY HOLLOW

Nobel laureate poet Billy Collins visited this fall as the 2010–11 Karl Jonske Memorial Lecturer, surprising an English class with a visit before reading his poetry to all. . . . Students and teachers from Martinique and Gifu Kita, Japan, visited campus this winter. . . . Upper and Middle School students performed at Portland’s Winningstad Theatre during the Fall Festival of Shakespeare, a collaboration between Portland Playhouse and area high schools.
 

OUR GREAT TEACHERS

Upper School science teacher Bob Sauer was named an Outstanding Classroom Teacher in his region by the Oregon Science Teachers Association. The citation noted his ability to engender enthusiasm about science in his students and his international efforts for science education and experiential travel. . . . A paper co-authored by Upper School math teacher Lauren Sharesian on oscillators will be published by the prestigious journal Physical Review E . . . Woodshop teacher Michael deForest was this year’s Esther Dayman Strong lecturer and spoke on his apprenticeship to Ghana’s fantasy coffin-makers. . . . 4th grade teacher Mariam Higgins traveled to Haiti with a team of doctors to assist with surgical care and deliver medical and school supplies
 

ROBOTICS NEWS

The TechStart Education Foundation named robotics program director Dale Yocum Oregon’s technology educator of the year for inspiring passion and commitment and making technology accessible to all students; the award came with a $1,000 donation to the robotics program. . . . Catlin Gabel’s Flaming Chickens robotics team hosted the first annual Girl’s Generation robotics competition, and our girls team picked up the win. . . . Eighth grade Team Delta won the 1st place champion’s runner-up award at the state Lego robotics competition with an innovative research project on lower leg prosthetics for developing countries.
 

OUR AMAZING STUDENTS

Vighnesh Shiv ’11 earned the AP Scholar with Distinction Award for receiving and average score of at least 3.5 on all AP exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams. Rohisha Adke ’11 earned the AP Scholars Award. . . . Samme Sheikh ’11 was named an outstanding participant in the National Achievement Program, an academic competition that recognizes African American high schoolers. . . . 768 pounds of produce gleaned by 3rd and 4th graders at Kruger’s Farm was donated to the Oregon Food Bank. . . . Casey Currey- Wilson ’13 won first prize in the teen category of the nationwide Canon Photography in the Parks contest. . . . Aditya Sivakumar ’18 came in 3rd nationally in the elementary division of the Music Teachers National Association music competition. Lauren Mei Calora ’20 and Megan Stater ’12 won their age group at the Oregon Music Teachers Association classical piano competition. Holly Kim ’12 was selected for the All-State and All-Northwest Honors Orchestras.
 

ATH LETICS and SPORTS KUDOS

Catlin Gabel won three state championships this fall: the boys and girls soccer teams, and the girls cross country team. McKensie Mickler ’11 was named volleyball league player of the year, and Joseph Oberholtzer ’11 was voted state soccer player of the year. Joseph and teammate Ian Agrimis ’11 made first team all-state. Boys golf coach John Hamilton was the Oregon nominee for the National Federation of High Schools “Coach of the Year” award. . . . Portland Tribune named three students athlete of the week: Zoë Schlanger ’13 and Ian Agrimis ’11 for soccer, and Esichang McGautha ’12 for basketball. McKensie Mickler ’11 was recognized as athlete of the week by the Oregonian. USA Synchro named Katy Wiita ’12 to the 2011 National Synchronized Swimming Team, which will compete in Shanghai, China. . . . Alex Foster ’11 was one of 150 students nationwide named to the 2011 McDonald’s All American games for basketball.  

 

Catlin Gabel students take home awards from NW Science Expo

Submitted by Nadine Fiedler on Mon, 04/04/2011 - 8:03am
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The 28th annual Intel Northwest Science Expo (the statewide science fair) was held at Portland State University on April 1. Four Catlin Gabel students had qualified to attend the state fair based on results from the earlier regional science fairs. All four students won awards in their categories, and one was selected to continue to the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF).

 
Senior Vighnesh Shiv entered a project titled "Novel Algorithms for Automatic Music Transcription." He won first place in the Computer Science category and was selected to represent Oregon at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Los Angeles in May. Vighnesh also won the Intel Excellence in Computer Science Award and a special award from the IEEE.
 
Senior Rohan Jhunjhunwala entered a project titled "Road Detection via Computer Vision and Laser Scanning." He won second place in the Engineering: Electrical and Mechanical category, and in addition won the Outstanding Project award from the the U.S. Air Force and won a special award from the IEEE.
 
Sophomore Terrance Sun and freshman Lawrence Sun entered a team project titled "Using Formal Verification Techniques to Find Contradictions in Laws Concerning Police Use of Force." Terrance and Lawrence won Third Place in the Computer Science Category.
 
Congratulations to all of these students for their hard work!
 
—Andrew Merrill, computer science teacher

 

8th grade robotics Team Delta vying for Global Innovation prize, and you can vote for them

Submitted by Nadine Fiedler on Fri, 03/04/2011 - 12:37pm
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Our 8th grade robotics Team Delta has come up with an amazing idea for making prosthetic devices cheaper and more accessible in developing countries. They're in the XPrize competition for Global Innovation, and they need your help. You can vote for them at the bottom of their page. Voting has been extended two weeks from the original March 4 deadline.

Girls robotics tourney a great success

Submitted by Nadine Fiedler on Tue, 11/16/2010 - 10:27am
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Girls rock in robotics at CGS-sponsored competition
Robotics at the high school level engages both boys and girls with its spirit of inventiveness, collaboration, and exciting challenge. Thousands of girls around the world participate in FIRST robotics—but mostly in the marketing, spirit, and outreach areas of their robotics team. Many graduate from the program without having played a significant role in the engineering side of the team, and without having gained the knowledge and skills that come from doing so.
 
In response to this gender gap, Catlin Gabel’s “Flaming Chickens” robotics team hosted the first annual Girl’s Generation robotics competition at Catlin Gabel on Saturday, November 13. Organized by female senior Rohisha Adke and staffed by the male members of the team, they presented Girl’s Generation as a chance for female members of area robotics teams to take center stage. “We hoped to inspire girls to take advantage of the opportunities for growth that FIRST offers by giving them a slight advantage over their often dominating male counterparts, and a chance to witness the fun of engineering for themselves,” said Dale Yocum, Catlin Gabel’s robotics program director.
 
Fourteen Oregon and Washington teams attended the competition, making it the largest event of its kind. Only girls were allowed to be on the robot drive teams, and only girls could work on them in the pits. The teams worked extra hard, playing as many matches Saturday as they’d normally play for an entire regional tournament.
 
At the end, Catlin Gabel’s Flaming Chickens—seniors Rohisha Adke and Lynne Stracovsky, and sophomores Hannah Ashley, Marina Dimitrov, Anne Gilleland, and Eve Lowenstein—brought home the winner’s trophy. But all the girls who attended came away with the warmth of knowing who exactly their peers are: smart, confident girls ready to work together to take on the difficult challenges they face in robotics, and well prepared for the next big competition.

 

Robotics program director Dale Yocum named technology educator of the year

Submitted by Karen Katz on Fri, 09/17/2010 - 10:03am
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Congratulations, Dale!

The TechStart Education Foundation named Dale Yocum Oregon's technology educator of the year. The award honors a teacher who is:

An effective, engaging instructor who inspires passion and commitment from her or his students while advancing their critical thinking ability, skills, and knowledge in challenging, meaningful ways.

An advocate for the study of information technology, making technology accessible to all students and building an inclusive culture.

A role model for colleagues, who is committed to ongoing personal and peer professional development and establishes, evolves and communicates best practices and pedagogy.

In addition to prestige and recognition, the award comes with a $1,000 donation to Catlin Gabel's robotics program.

Grads Kevin Ellis & Yale Fan celebrated on FIRST robotics website

Submitted by Nadine Fiedler on Wed, 06/23/2010 - 3:27pm
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FIRST web article, June 2010

Catlin Gabel News Spring 2010

Submitted by Nadine Fiedler on Tue, 06/22/2010 - 9:18am
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From the Spring 2010 Caller

AMAZING AWARDS IN SCIENCE

Yale Fan ’10 and Kevin Ellis ’10 both won top honors and $50,000 each by coming in second place with all-around prizes in the recent Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. This was the first time ever that two winners have come from the same school. Yale has also won a place on the 20-member 2010 U.S. Physics Team, and he placed ninth at the Intel Science Talent Search in Washington, D.C., earning him a $20,000 award for his research on the advantages of quantum computing in performing difficult computations. Kevin was also one of the 40 Intel STS finalists in Washington, D.C. and won a $7,500 award. At this year’s international Northwest Science Expo, Kevin Ellis ’10, Rose Perrone ’10, and Vighnesh Shiv ’11 each won special awards from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Rose also came in second place in electrical and mechanical engineering. Yale won first place in physics and astronomy and several other awards. Brynmor Chapman ’10 won statewide second place in biochemistry, and Lucy Feldman ’10 won statewide honorable mention in animal sciences. Kudos to all!

NEWS FROM AROUND HONEY HOLLOW

Catlin Gabel was selected by Oregon Business magazine as one of the 100 Best Green Companies to Work For in Oregon, honoring the school’s variety of green policies and the high value its employees places on sustainable practices. . . . An article by facilities director Eric Shawn, “Catlin Gabel School—a Focus on Food,” was published in the May 2010 inaugural edition of the Journal of Sustainability Education. . . . PLACE director and urban studies teacher George Zaninovich was nominated by the Coalition for a Livable Future for the Robert L. Liberty Regional Leadership Award for his significant contributions to Portland’s livability. . . . . The Oregon Athletic Coaches Association named Lerry Baker the girls track coach of the year and John Hamilton the golf coach of the year for 2009. . . . This year’s diversity conference in April offered a wide variety of workshops on issues that included homeless youth, blindness, race and American popular music, Southern African cultures, immigration, political diversity, masculinity, worldwide access to technology, and contemporary religious practice. The day was capped with performances by the Jefferson Dancers and the Maru-a-Pula Marimba Band from Botswana.
 

FESTIVE GAMBOL BRINGS IN GREAT SUPPORT FOR FINANCIAL AID

Thanks to enthusiastic bidders, donors, volunteers, and supporters, the celebratory 2010 Gambol auction at The Nines hotel raised $345,000. Derrick Butler, M.D. ’86 brought the crowd to its feet when he spoke at a special appeal for financial aid. Many thanks to co-chairs Gina Wand and Heather Gaudry Blackburn ’90 (right).
 

OUTSTANDING SERVICE WORK

Middle School students, staff, and families contributed 1,152 pounds of food to the Oregon Food Bank for Project Second Wind. . . . The Upper School Environmental Club raised enough funds through sales of smoothies and baked goods to help provide 641 Iraqi students with clean, safe drinking water through Water for Peace.
 

KUDOS TO OUR STUDENTS

Mariah Morton ’12 jumped 18 feet at track and field districts to break the school long jump record set by Wendy Miller Johnson ’68 in 1968. . . . The Upper School mock trial team won its third state championship competing against high schools many times our size. . . . Cody Hoyt ’13 won an Oregon Driver Education Center video contest about safe driving with a spoof of the Old Spice commercial. . . . The Flaming Chickens robotics team won the regional Chairman’s Award this year, the highest honor. They also won the Innovations in Controls award at the Colorado regional competition.
 
 
For their senior prank, the community-minded class of 2010 converted the Upper School quad to a petting zoo for the young ones