With Team 359 already on their ninth year of participating in FRC, we presented our open house video, which was made especially for this event by the visual media division. This video displayed what Team 359 has been doing throughout this past year and the journey thoughout the six weeks.

 

On February 14, 2009, the Waialua Robotics team held their ninth annual open house, which turned out to be a very successful event. A great number of dignitaries, sponsors, and supporters attended the event, including Governor Linda Lingle. The team spent a great deal of time preparing for this event, which is one of the highlights of the robotics season for the Hawaiian Kids.

The morning of open house the team showed up early to prepare the cafeteria, put up banners, and tidy up each of the robotics facilities, to ensure that they were presentable. Then at 3 p.m. the program began, with team members Brianna Acosta and Leia Lendio acting as the emcees for the event. To start off the event we were fortunate enough to have Governor Lingle and other special guests say a few words about FIRST and the Hawaiian Kids. After those speeches, the guests were treated to a viewing of the game video to explain this year’s objectives. Next the team gave guided tours to all of the attendees of each of the robotics facilities. So we divided everyone into four groups, with each group led by two Team 359 student members. The tour consisted of a guided viewing of each of the main facilities: the Industrial Education Shops (Wood Shop and Machine Shop), the Robotics Construction Room, and the Robotics Documentation Room. The guests got to see what each of our team divisions do during building season. Once everyone returned to the cafeteria we presented our open house video, which was made especially for this event by the visual media division. The video gave our guests a good look at the progress that has been made from the very beginning of building season to the present, along with our outreach efforts and candid clips of the team being themselves. To close up our open house event we unveiled this year’s robot, the LunaKahuna and gave a little demonstration for the attendees, afterwards the guests stayed to eat and mingle with Team 359.

From all the pleasant comments the Hawaiian kids received, it seems that the team has once again put on a successful event. The open house allowed the team to showcase the learning opportunities the robotics program has brought to our school, how much effort members put into this program, and serve as a way to show our appreciation for those who have continued to support us. Team 359 sends a big mahalo to all those who came and we hope to see you all again next year.