Seventh grader, Tony Donaldson Jr., was one of the semi-finalists for the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge. He invented the “Swiffer-Shoe.” The Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge is the premier national science competition, for students in grades 5 through 8. The goal of the Young Scientist Challenge is to encourage America’s youth to explore science and innovation, while promoting the importance of science communication.

Tony Donaldson created the “Swiffer-Shoe,” to provide a fun way to clean up floors. It is also intended to help reduce back pains, while cleaning. “I built the Swiffer-Shoe, by modifying a commonly used object, the broom, to improve it.”

We are pleased to have two robotics teams this year,
the (MS)² Junior Bison Bots (sponsored by Girls Inc.) and Team Tech.

The First LEGO League Regional Qualifying Tournament was held Saturday, November 7th at Powell Elementary School from 8:00 AM to 3:30 PM. History was made at (MS)² because not only was this our first time participating in this tournament, but we sent the only all-female team to this competition. The (MS)² Junior Bison Bots earned the Teamwork Award for their demonstration of what it takes to be a strong, coherent and determined team. They were fabulous!

As far as the performance of the robot, it was also fabulous. It was programmed to do exactly what they wanted it to do. However, like 100% of the other competing robots, there were some quirks on the competition table. Even the winning team’s robot had a mind of it’s own. However, the team was very pleased with its accomplishments. They learned a lot on how to improve their performance interacting with the other teams. In fact, they have already begun to make changes on how to proceed in future tournaments as we plan to be in the winning circle next year.

Truly, females are missing from learning about this technology. The winning team was an all-male team.

Special acknowledgement to Girls Inc. for sponsoring the (MS)² Junior Bison Bots and especially Maryan Mohamed, Program Director, Girls Inc. of the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area.

The (MS)² Junior Bison Bots, under the direction of Maryan Mohamed, work on programming their robot to complete the obstacle course.

The (MS)² Junior Bison Bots are:
Mackada Howell, Imani Davis, Imani Carter, Gianni Shaw, Jordan Boyer, Afia Tyus, Asha Waugh, Keshyell Houser, and Maria Jimenez.

Team Tech

The Robotics Club sponsored by HU intern Shem Franklin incorporates engineering courses such as Physics and Electronics along with concepts that reinforce the concept of teamwork. The Robotics Club is currently entered in the “First LEGO League Robotics Competition” where they have to design, build and compete against hundreds of middle school children across the nation. The Robotics Club, also know, as Team Tech will have its next competition on Saturday November 21, 2009.

Member of Team Tech include:
Sekerkhi Anderson, Kevin Aninta, Herman Bethea, Djani Davis, Paul DeVaughn Jr., Mark Hightower Jr.,
Eron Shields, Malik Workman, Keith Wright

On Saturday, October 10, Girls Inc. attended the first annual Allycatz Tween Summit. The summit presented sessions focused on encouraging girls to be strong, bold, smart, and proud. In a session entitled, “Courageous Careers,” a gold-medal soccer player shared that she was teased as the only girl on her team, until the rest of the team found out that she was a really good player. The session was focused on encouraging women to remain confident, in careers that mostly men do.

Concluding the night, a concert was held with Debbie Ryan as the hostess. During the concert, five electric guitars, thirty dream phones, two iPod speakers, among other things, were raffled off. Everyone, however, walked away with colossal goody bags. The night was a grand success for Girls Inc.

(MS)² Parent Association