Wednesday, March 12, 2008

News From the "Ridder Kids"

Good morning friends of the Ridder Kids,
Head Referee for NYC FIRST LEGO League Visits Herman Ridder JHS
Yesterday Richard Wong, the Head Referee for NYC FIRST LEGO League visited the team at the school. In addition to congratulating the team he was there to assist them in their quest for the perfect score of 400 points which will be needed in order to compete with the top FLL teams around the world at the Asian FLL Open.

Donation of LEGO Pieces
A family in New Jersey contacted me after seeing the "Ridder Kids" on the WNBC program to ask if the team would like a donation of LEGO's. I traveled out to their home and found to my amazement a basement full of LEGO pieces that are now at the Herman Ridder school ( see table below).

Donations of Make Magazines
A couple of weeks ago I traveled into Manhattan and picked up two boxes of a science/tech/engineering magazine which were graciously donated by Make magazine for the Ridder Kids. Last week I heard from Make magazine that they are working with a reporter from the NY Times for a potential Make-related article on how the magazine is inspiring people/kids to learn science/tech/engineering though unconventional means. They want to hear about the reaction from the Ridder Kids to the Make magazines. www.makezine.com

Ridder Kids to Participate at the FLL Event at Javits April 6
The Ridder Kids will be participating in the first ever New York City FLL Expo to be held at the Javits Center on Sunday, April 6, 2008. The New York City FLL Expo will be taking place concurrently with the 2008 New York City FIRST Robotics Competition and the second annual New York City FIRST Science and Technology Career Expo. There will be 60 FLL teams running 4-6 rounds of this year's game Power Puzzle. The teams will begin competition at 9 am concluding at approximately 12:30 PM, with trophies given to the top three teams.
Offer of Assistance from Toronto to Florida
Yesterday I received an email from someone in Toronto who heard about the team's upcoming trip to Japan and would like to help the team get to Japan.
While I was in Florida recently I received two checks from people who had read about the Ridder Kids in the NY Times. With the departure of the team for Japan on the morning of April 25th, just seven weeks from today, the team is still accepting donations.
Gary Israel
Leadership LSO
Robotics Consultant
Team Advisor
Herman Ridder JHS
845-893-0327

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