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Niski Noticed Nationally in New Hampshire!

Team 230, the Gaelhawks, is gathered around the projector screen, all waiting eagerly for the clock to read ten o'clock and the webcast to begin. Breakfast has just been served, and everyone's pens are poised, ready to record this year's game. Members have had two months to get to know each other, and different groups are interacting throughout the room. Engineers and teachers are all present, except for one familiar face ? Mr. John Niski, Shelton High School's new Athletic Director. He is up in New Hampshire, getting ready to discuss "gracious professionalism" for the world to see at the 2004 FIRST Robotics Competition Kickoff on January 10.

When FIRST contacted all teams to ask for stories on gracious professionalism, Mr. Niski thought it would be appropriate to respond with the story of the "bocce shooter", a contraption invented to aid a Shelton High School student who was confined to a wheelchair and yet wanted to participate in the school's annual Bocce Tournament. Mr. Niski was excited to receive a phone call from FIRST, inviting him to the Kickoff to discuss gracious professionalism in a panel of FIRST members, teachers, and students. So on January 10_th, Mr. Niski and Mr. Steve Kline found themselves in Manchester, New Hampshire, sitting in the front row with John Abele, chairman; Woodie Flowers, national advisor; Dave Lavery, program executive from NASA; and Dean Kamen, FIRST founder. What a way to start off the year!

The panel discussion began with numerous examples of gracious professionalism, reiterating the importance of long term thinking over short term thinking. Mr. Niski was introduced second, and asked to explain the project our team undertook. He related the events leading up to the building of the bocce shooter as, "The teacher came to us and said 'Is there any way you can do anything for Jack? He's confined to a wheelchair and wants to be able to participate in the Bocce Tournaments and things that are going on.' So...I put it out to the team. Several students came forward and some of the mentors came forward and we worked in the off season to create a mechanism that would allow Jack to participate in the Bocce tournament...which turned out to be a bigger task than we originally thought it would be. Because of the experience that we had with FIRST and everything that we had learned and put together we came out with something that was very successful."

The audience was then presented with a video taken from a newscast on the story, featuring Jack Early and the Gaelhawks' own Dave Wickers, who contributed greatly to the construction of the shooter. Mr. Niski was met with thunderous applause after the explanation, showing just how much gracious professionalism can really affect the world and the people in it. The team was just as excited to see Mr. Niski on the screen as he was to be there!

After the interviews, the game was finally announced. An explanatory mini-animation preceded the parting of the curtains, revealing a pre-constructed field sporting three different sized platforms, a ten-foot bar, and four PVC-pipe goals. Purple and yellow balls of two different sizes littered the field, and humans role-playing as robots acted out the game. This year's game is much more controlled than those of past years, and human players are more involved. To get a full explanation of the game, see Robot!

The webcast was followed by the Gaelhawks breaking into groups, each discussing possible design strategies and attempting to understand every aspect of the game. This year's robot is going to try to do it all ? grab the small purple balls, hold the large yellow balls, and hang on the bar.

Work on the prototype is concluding, and the construction of the actual robot is in its final stages. The Gaelhawks now have a few days to finish and ship the robot, and then...? The competing begins. Now that everyone knows the rules, the team is extremely busy, trying to build a working, winning robot in these final days. Though the building season is almost over, Mr. Niski is still just as excited about his New Hampshire experience as ever: "It was really cool!" We're sure it was. Next time ? bring the whole team!