Oak Ridge Today

Education Foundation to award grants April 24

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Woodland Elementary School teacher Megan Sauer is pictured above with one of her students demonstrating her 2018 grant “Communication for All.” (Photo courtesy Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation)

The Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation will award more than $99,000 in grants to Oak Ridge teachers at a ceremony on Wednesday, April 24.

Oak Ridge High School’s retired math teacher and former department head Benita Albert will be the featured speaker at the event, sharing her talk titled “We’ve Come a Long Way Teachers.”

The ceremony is open to the public, and it will be held in the Pollard Auditorium at ORAU beginning at 2:30 p.m. Demonstrations and displays of some of the projects and technology funded by the Foundation will be given in the lobby after the formal ceremony. Light refreshments will be provided courtesy of Oak Ridge Utility District, a press release said.

The 2019 grant recipients are as follows: [Read more…]

Robotics: After regional alliance win, Secret City Wildbots will compete in World Finals in Houston

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After a regional alliance win at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville on Saturday, March 24, 2018, the Secret City Wildbots robotics team of Oak Ridge, Team 4265, is headed to the World Finals in Houston in April. (Photo by Angi Agle)

After a regional alliance win at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville on Saturday, March 24, 2018, the Secret City Wildbots robotics team of Oak Ridge (Team 4265) is headed to the World Finals in Houston in April. (Photo by Angi Agle)

 

Information and photos submitted by Angi Agle

KNOXVILLE—After a regional alliance win in Knoxville on Saturday, the Secret City Wildbots robotics team of Oak Ridge is headed to the World Finals in Houston in April.

The Wildbots finished the qualification rounds ranked number eight at Thompson-Boling Arena at the University of Tennessee. That made the Wildbots a team captain, eligible to select two more teams for their alliance.

However, captains select their alliance partners in the first round, with the highest-ranked team picking first. Team 2614, MARS (Mountain Area Robotics) of Morgantown, West Virginia, was the number one seed and selected Team 4265 (the Secret City Wildbots) as their first alliance pick.

The two then agreed upon Team 4306, the Robo Komodos of Franklin, Tennessee, as their third alliance partner. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge Schools names teachers of the year

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From left to right, top row, are Lauren Blair, Lisa Buckner, Linda Dalton, Donna Gilbert, and Donna Grove, and from left to right, bottom row, are Michael Martin, Bob O'Connor, Steve Reddick, and Leslie Shelton.

From left to right, top row, are Lauren Blair, Lisa Buckner, Linda Dalton, Donna Gilbert, and Donna Grove, and from left to right, bottom row, are Michael Martin, Bob O’Connor, Steve Reddick, and Leslie Shelton.

 

Oak Ridge Schools has named its teachers of the year.

Here are the teachers of the year:

  • Oak Ridge Schools Preschool—Linda Dalton
  • Glenwood Elementary School—Lauren Blair
  • Linden Elementary School—Lisa Buckner
  • Willow Brook Elementary School—Donna Grove
  • Woodland Elementary School—Michael Martin
  • Jefferson Middle School—Steve Reddick
  • Robertsville Middle School—Bob O’Connor
  • Secret City Academy—Donna Gilbert
  • Oak Ridge High School—Leslie Shelton

Here is more information about the teachers and their schools from Oak Ridge Schools: [Read more…]

Great American Eclipse in Oak Ridge Schools

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Glenwood Elementary School students worked with OBED Park Rangers and practiced safe use of a telescope for viewing during the total solar eclipse on Monday, Aug. 21, 2017. (Photo courtesy Oak Ridge Schools)

Glenwood Elementary School students worked with Obed park rangers and practiced safe use of a telescope for viewing during the total solar eclipse on Monday, Aug. 21, 2017. (Photo courtesy Oak Ridge Schools)

 

Submitted by Oak Ridge Schools

The Great American Eclipse was unique in Oak Ridge, as we were on the coveted path of totality. Some solar eclipse fanatics will travel thousands of miles and spend thousands of dollars just to get themselves into The Path. We took advantage of this rare opportunity that came to our back yard for the breathtaking experience of totality with our students and staff.

We had an interesting challenge, though. The edge of the path of totality cut through town in such a way that four of our schools would only experience a partial eclipse if students and staff stayed on campus. The total solar eclipse has several attributes that are not visible outside the path of totality, such as the sudden appearance of stars and planets, the solar corona becoming visible, and a temperature drop. To ensure all of our students had the opportunity for this rich total eclipse experience, we provided transportation to move everyone who wanted to participate into The Path. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge teams take top honors in FIRST Robotics World Festival

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Secret City Wildbots FRC Houston 10 April 22 2017 Agle

The Secret City Wildbots, Team 4265, were underdogs in the quarterfinals, but they survived to the semifinals where they lost to the number one seed in the First Robotics World Championship in Houston on Saturday, April 22, 2017. (Photo by Angi Agle)

 

From Wednesday to Saturday last week, the Master Builders (Team 3132) from Jefferson Middle School and the Secret City Wildbots (Team 4265) from Oak Ridge High School competed in the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics World Festival in Houston, Texas.

“We are pleased to announce that both teams experienced success in the World Festival,” Oak Ridge Schools said in a press release.

The Jefferson Middle School FIRST LEGO League team, the Master Builders, received trophies for the top awards in the world for first place in robot performance and second place in programming during the FIRST Robotics World Festival in Houston, Texas from April 19-22, 2017. (Submitted photo)

The Jefferson Middle School FIRST LEGO League team, the Master Builders, received trophies for the top awards in the world for first place in robot performance and second place in programming during the FIRST Robotics World Festival in Houston, Texas from April 19-22, 2017. (Submitted photo)

 

The FIRST LEGO League team, The Master Builders from Jefferson Middle School, received trophies for the top awards in the world for first place in robot performance, and second place in programming. There were 108 teams present for FIRST LEGO League at the World Festival from all over the globe, the press release said. [Read more…]

Education Foundation to award more than $90,000 in grants in April 26 ceremony

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A photo from a grant award last year for a 3D printer for Robertsville Middle School. (Submitted photo)

A photo from a grant award last year for a 3D printer for Robertsville Middle School. (Submitted photo)

 

In the final year of its “Making the Critical Difference” campaign, the Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation will award more than $90,000 in grants to Oak Ridge teachers at a ceremony on Wednesday, April 26, a press release said.

Shirley Raines, president emeritus of the University of Memphis, will be the featured speaker, the press release said. She will give a talk titled, “Dreamers, Thinkers, Doers.”

The grants ceremony is open to the public, and it will be held in the Oak Ridge High School cafeteria beginning at 4 p.m. April 26.

Demonstrations and displays of some of the projects and technology funded by the Foundation will be given after the formal ceremony, the press release said. Light refreshments will be provided courtesy of Oak Ridge Utility District.

The 2017 grant recipients are as follows: [Read more…]

Secret City Wildbots to compete at Smoky Mountain Regional this week

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The Secret City Wildbots are primed for competition this weekend in the FIRST Robotics “FIRST Steamworks” challenge at Thompson Boling Arena in Knoxville from March 23-25, 2017. (Submitted photo)

The Secret City Wildbots are primed for competition this weekend in the FIRST Robotics “FIRST Steamworks” challenge at Thompson Boling Arena in Knoxville from March 23-25, 2017. (Submitted photo)

 

The Secret City Wildbots are primed for competition this weekend in the FIRST Robotics “FIRST Steamworks” challenge.

This year’s event is scheduled from Thursday, March 23, to Saturday, March 25 at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville. It invites teams and their robots to join an adventure club and prepare their airship for flight. Teams were challenged to build their robot for collecting and placing gears on their airship for their pilots (the team’s human player) to populate gear trains to start their airships rotors, scoring fuel (“wiffleballs”) into a low goal or firing them into a high goal of their boiler in order to build up steam pressure, and lastly, climbing a rope to board their airship so they can help their pilots win the race.

The Secret City Wildbots, along with their alliance, were semi-finalists at the Palmetto Regional in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, from March 2-4. [Read more…]

Education Foundation to award $85,000 in grants at April 13 ceremony

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Jay Searcy

Jay Searcy

As part of its “Making the Critical Difference” campaign, the Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation will award approximately $85,000 in grants to Oak Ridge teachers at a ceremony on Wednesday, April 13.

Jay Searcy, a national award-winning sports writer and Oak Ridge Class of 1952 alumnus, will be the featured speaker at the event sharing his talk entitled, “How to Improve Our Schools Without Knowing How.” The ceremony is open to the public and will be held in the Oak Ridge High School cafeteria beginning at 4 p.m. April 13. Demonstrations and displays of some of the projects and technology funded by the Foundation will be given after the formal ceremony. Light refreshments will be provided courtesy of Oak Ridge Utility District.

The 2016 grant recipients are as follows:

  • Oak Ridge Preschool—Margaret Johnston
  • Glenwood Elementary—Amelia Bell, Lauren Blair, and Gwen Harrell
  • Linden Elementary—Ginger Adams and Lisa Buckner
  • Willow Brook Elementary—Ashley Branson and Andrew McDonald
  • Woodland Elementary—Susie Carden, Kim Howard, Michael Martin, and Evan Parker
  • Jefferson Middle School—Jim Dodson, Emily Haverkamp, Heather Henderlight, Julie McCullough, Lexie Scott, and Brian Smith
  • Robertsville Middle School—David Goforth, Mariah Kidwell, Mardee Miller, and David Scott
  • Oak Ridge High School—Christina Henry, Spence Milligan, Vidal Moreno, Deanna Pickel, Sharon Thomas, and Will Waterson

[Read more…]

Education Foundation grants support robotics, Lego learning projects

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Jefferson Middle School Master Builders

Two members of the Jefferson Middle School Master Builders team are preparing their robot to solve missions at a FIRST Lego League mission table. (Photo by Yvonne Dalschen)

 

At Linden Elementary School, Lisa Buckner’s third-graders are building robots and Lego floats representing continents in a months-long project aimed at engaging them in learning, problem solving, and creative and critical thinking.

The 38 members of Oak Ridge High School’s Secret City Robotics team are solving real-world problems as they build and program a 120-pound robot to enter FIRST Robotics Competitions as an extra-curricular activity.

Teachers view robots and Lego sets as tools giving Oak Ridge students opportunities to collaborate, design, build, and solve problems as they learn engineering, science, and technology skills, both inside and outside the classroom.

The Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation supported these activities with $18,700 in grants last year to teachers at the Oak Ridge High School, Jefferson and Robertsville middle schools, and Linden Elementary School. The grants included a UT-Battelle donation of $10,000 directed to FIRST Robotics Competition, FIRST Tech Challenge, and FIRST Lego League teams, all extra-curricular programs at the high school and middle schools. [Read more…]

Secret City Wildbots receive Excellence in Engineering award at robotics championship

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FIRST Robotics Luke Buckner, Mark Buckner, and Tag Groff

Luke Buckner, Mark Buckner, and Tag Groff in the drivers’ station at the FIRST Robotics Competition Championship in St. Louis this past weekend. (Photo by Angi Agle)

 

The Secret City Wildbots team received an Excellence in Engineering award at the FIRST Robotics World Championships in St. Louis this past weekend, Oak Ridge school officials said Monday.

“The Wildbots competed in the Archimedes Division, and after 10 tough qualification matches, earned their way into the Elimination Tournament by defeating the top-ranked team in the division in the final qualification match,” according to information from Gordon F. Williams, engineering instructor, Oak Ridge High School Engineering and Robotics Academy, and FIRST Robotics Team 4265 coach and sponsor.

Williams said the Secret City Wildbots, Team 4265, formed an alliance team consisting of Team 20, The Rocketeers (from Clifton Park, N.Y.); Team 195, The Cyber Knights (from Southington, Conn.); and Team 4077, MASH (from Edmonds, Wash.) that was eliminated in the quarterfinals round. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge Schools selects Teacher Leaders

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The Oak Ridge School system has announced its selections for Teacher Leaders for the 2014-15 school year.

The Teacher Leader initiative was conceived and launched as a result of the Tennessee Department of Education’s push to create a differentiated pay scale for teachers in all counties. The department encouraged systems to either adopt a structure where teachers receive pay bonuses based on student test scores and eliminate increases in pay for advanced degrees or years of service, or adopt programs that ask teachers to take on greater responsibilities in schools.

“When presented with the opportunity to reward teachers for their dedicated and outstanding service, we decided not to get rid of our steps and lanes that reward teachers for their time and dedication to the classroom and earning advanced degrees, but rather recognize teachers that step up and take on greater leadership roles around STEM, analyzing data, and reinforcing professional learning communities,” said Bruce Borchers, Oak Ridge Schools superintendent. [Read more…]

Robertsville LEGO team headed back to world tournament

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Robertsville Middle School LEGO Team

Robertsville’s LEGO team receives a check for $1,000 as the school wins the East Tennessee LEGO Tournament, advancing to the world tournament next spring. From left are Marie Westfall of Oak Ridge Associated Universities and Robertsville students Maddy Buckner, Eric Thornton, Caden Webb, and Rhyannon Karney. (Submitted photo)

Oak Ridge’s Robertsville Middle School’s LEGO team—using miniature robots to perform required functions on a table—has once again earned a spot in next spring’s world LEGO tournament in St. Louis after winning Saturday’s East Tennessee championship in Cookeville, a press release said.

The team only found out two weeks before the region tournament that it was going to be able to compete after having earlier had to cancel.

“The last two weeks have seen us being at school about three to four days a week from after school until the end of the day,” said Lisa Buckner, one of Robertsville’s coaches. “What was really cool was the fact the kids who had dropped out because of other commitments that came up still came back to help the team get ready. In the end, the whole team worked to finish it even though only four could come to the tournament.”

[Read more…]