The Postscript The Park School of Baltimore | PO Box 8200 Brooklandville, MD 21022 | www.parkpostscript.com January 30, 2006 Volume LXVI | Issue No. 4 School mourns loss of ’03 alum lived life any fuller than Nick.” by Everett Rosenfeld ’09 He also shared anecdotes of Park is mourning the loss Nick’s exploits on the soccer of one of its own. On January team that brought the crowd to 14, Nicholas Ripley Watson, laughter and reminded everyone Class of 2003, was the vic- of Nick’s great sense of humor. tim of an untimely death. The Another speaker, Nate tragic accident occurred while Loewentheil ’03, was Nick’s he was in Madrid for his junior best friend from the age of fi ve. year abroad from University of He summed up Nick in two Maryland. He was 21 years old. words: “optimism and dedica- While at Park, Nick was tion. He was the cheeriest per- an active member of the com- son I have ever known,” said munity. As a senior, he played Lowentheil. Other memories on Varsity Soccer, Basketball, were recalled by family friend and was the Senior Captain on Jennifer Ries ’06, classmates Varsity Baseball. In addition to Tyler Rorison and Will Hoff- sports, he participated in Model man, and Park teacher Peter photo by B. Weinstein ‘06 UN, Postscript, and Brownie. Warren, who was his neighbor. (Left to right) P. Dagnelie ’09, D. Schneider ’07, P. Hobbs ’08, D. Bailey ’09, and P. Dennis ’08 On Sunday, January 22, Park The service ended with a stand behind the robot they helped design and assemble for NASA’s FIRST Robotics competi- held a memorial service attended heartfelt and uplifting moment. tion. The team also includes students from three other schools. by well over 700 people. Fam- Cristina Watson ’99, Nick’s sis- ily and friends came together to ter, went before the crowd and show their support for the Wat- sang “Lean on Me” accompa- Robotics team set to compete sons and to celebrate Nick’s life. nied by a friend on the guitar, The ceremony opened with and eventually the entire audi- in NASA-sponsored regionals a few words from Roger Se- ence joined in. By the end of idenman ’85 who coached the song, almost everyone in the fi nal robot, we have to pro- by Scott Shuldiner ’09 by eight professional engineers Nick throughout his Upper the gym was standing. In this totype each part. For example, who have volunteered their as- School sports career. Several showing of Park togetherness we have to make sure that the David Schneider ’07 and sistance throughout the process. other speakers followed, one of and community, all were united manipulator can shoot and har- a team of 15 technology-fa- Lead Engineer, Larry Albert, whom was Lucky Mallonee ’62 in celebration of Nicholas Ri- vest balls.” The team plans to natic students are putting a is an electrician for Black and who coaches Varsity Soccer. pley Watson’s life. The Park construct a practice fi eld so that whole new meaning to “do- Decker. Leading up to the proj- Mallonee recalled that “nobody School family will miss him. ing the robot.” The group is ect, Albert ran a course to intro- the “drivers” can practice shoot- building their own robot to duce the team to basic mechani- ing the goals. The robot will compete in the FIRST Robot- cal concepts and skills. Later, be hand operated by the driv- ics Competition. In fact, their they were joined by eight more ers using a joy stick held from robot will have to play soccer. engineers, a mechanist, and an about 30 feet away. “It’s not FIRST (For the Inspiration engineering student who was on like playing a video game,” he and Recognition of Science and a FIRST team. “One of our en- joked, “it’s far more challeng- Technology) is an international gineering mentors has fi ve years ing from a real life perspective.” program sponsored by NASA of experience judging FIRST The team, which calls itself to increase interest in math, sci- competitions,” said Schneider. “The Umbrella Corporation,” ence, and technology. “One of Larry Kenney is a Park parent will participate in two regional the purposes of the program is to and Vadim Polyakov ’86 is an competitions in Philadelphia address the problem of the short- alumnus. Mentors are necessary and Annapolis. The Annapo- age of engineers in this country due to the extreme complexity of lis regional will be held at the by attracting students’ interest, the project, but are there strictly Naval Academy March 16-18; before college,” said Schneider. to assist the team. “The engi- there they will be up against Schneider, who has been put- neers aren’t building the robot 54 teams in the area as well as ting together robots since the for us,” Schneider added, “they teams from Alaska, and even sixth grade, started the Robot- are simply here to help us and to England. Next, they will be off ics and Engineering club at Park guide us on the right path.” De- to the Philadelphia Regional photo courtesy the Watson family two years ago. Students Kostik spite all of the volunteers, Sch- Competition held at Drexel Nick Watson ’03 (left) posed with Will Hoffman ’03 at Senior University March 30-April 1, Vidensky ’07, Alex Weaver ’07, neider’s team is still considered prom 2003. Watson passed away January 14 while in Madrid. Paul Dennis ’08, Paul Hobbs small compared to others, who where they will compete against ’08, Darian Bailey ’09, and Paul have as many as 60 members. 36 other teams. Over 1,125 Dagnelie ’09 have teamed up After the team received its teams of more than 28,000 high Group launches weekly with six students from the Sci- initial kit of parts at the NASA school-aged students will at- ence Math Academy (SMA) kick-off meeting January 7, it tend 33 of these regional com- iTunes news broadcast petitions all around the world. of Aberdeen High School, and began the intensive six week by Michael Roswell ’07 one student each from Loyola build period. The team meets If the team performs well at lights from the games. Eng- High and Hereford Middle to two evenings a week and most of the regionals it will make it to Overhearing an interview lish teacher Kirk Wulf and build and design a robot to par- the weekend, adding up to about the championships in Atlanta, about the new podcast, Park Jonny Weiss ’07 host the show, ticipate in this year’s challenge. 25 hours a week. “We began the where it will compete against the School’s Week in Review, his- and Ben Starr ’07 composed “The 2006 Challenge is process by brainstorming ideas best robotic teams in the world. tory teacher Peter Warren said, and plays the opening theme. called ‘Aim High,’” explained for strategies used in playing the Each competition is judged “It’s gonna run Postscript out The podcast is available at Schneider, “and involves ro- game,” explained Schneider. by volunteer engineers from of business.” The new week- podcast.net and on Apple’s bots picking up and shooting “Next we thought about what major organizations who pro- ly broadcast, released every iTunes program. Both are balls at a high center goal and type of design would accom- mote FIRST. “Judging is based Wednesday evening, includes free services available for lis- two lower goals.” The students plish the desired task (scoring on the robot’s performance in at least one in-depth interview, tening through a computer. are not alone in building the goals). Now we are working in a sports report with scores robot; they are being mentored sub-teams. Before we can build ROBOTICS continued on p.2 from the week, and some high- PODCAST continued on p.2 page 2 News The Postscript | January 30, 2006 Aspiring engineers build robot ROBOTICS continued from p.1 Each team needs about $2,000 design of the robot, and sports- worth of tools, and $5,000 for ad- manship,” said Schneider. Teams ditional materials. “We have been will be competing for a number fortunate to receive a $6,000 grant of awards in many different cat- from NASA, nearly $11,000 from egories. “Another possible reward private sponsors, about $4,000 for FIRST team members is being in other corporate sponsorships, eligible for college scholarships.” and $500 from the Park Parents’ Schneider added, “Eight million Association,” said Schneider. The dollars are awarded to FIRST National Lumber Corporation do- grads in this country each year.” nated a large portion of the team’s Building a robot takes more than tools, and the Lion Brothers Corpo- just time and inspiration—it costs ration is providing the team shirts. a whole lot of money. “Due to the Schneider and the rest of the technological sophistication of this Robotics and Engineering club program, FIRST is very expensive; are looking forward to the work the registration for the fi rst com- ahead of them. “Thinking about petition and the start-up kit alone doing something is one thing, but cost $6000,” said Schneider. Each to actually build a technologi- additional regional costs $4,000, cally sophisticated robot, belongs and the championship costs $5,000. in a whole different category.” Cerrone recovering from heart surgery by Anders Hulleberg ’07 Garry Cerrone is a man photo by B. Weinstein ’06 handy with a knife. Two J. Weiss co-hosts ’07 Park School‘s Week in Review with teacher Kirk Wulf. weeks ago, he was under it.