HMS Clipperbots triumph at recent competition

Jay Harrington, Robotics club adviser, provided this update about HMS adventures with robotics!

The HMS robotics club team, The Clipperbots, sent two robots to last weekend's VEX Robotics tournament at Erskine Academy in South Paris, ME. Our teams entered two of only three middle school robots competing with 28 high school teams.

The tournaments have two parts: Qualifying Matches and the Alliance Elimination Tournament. The qualifying rounds were a learning experience for our teams with some in the moment re-engineering and fine-tuning of driving skills.

Networking is also a big part of tournament play. One of our robots, 7318, met and impressed some top teams. Our team was chosen to be part of the alliance with the third-ranked team from Thornton Academy and was on the field for both wins in the best of three final matches, becoming one of the tournament champions!

Our other robot, 7318B, stood out as well. The judges noticed the team's continued resilience after a design flaw limited their productivity. The team actually wound up dismantling their robot, cutting off a portion of the front of it and then reassembling it in between qualifying rounds. The judges agreed that this was an amazing effort and awarded the group with the tournament's Sportsmanship Award.

Special thanks to our volunteer coaches, Rich Weinberg and Adam Moore; our sponsors, DeLorme and YEF (whose grant made entering two robots possible); and our parents - many of whom made the long drive to South Paris and stayed through the duration, a very long day on the bleachers!

Both HMS teams have been invited to next Saturday's VEX Maine State Championship at HampdenAcademy!

Left-to-right (Back row) Krisztian Kovacs, Coach Adam Moore, Coach Jay Harrington, Coach Rich Weinberg (Middle) Celina Bellville, Hannah Juarez Cancino, Hannah Ho, Anushka Canfield
(Front) Matthew Robichaud, Nathaniel Snow, Sawyer Flowerdew, Sam Weinberg, Ethan Blake, and Lee Wilson (regular members not pictured: Kate Estabrook, Carter Moore, Jack Riddle, and Jonathan Stansbury) 

 

 

VEX Awards

7th Grade Math Team-2nd Meet

Jay Harrington shared this exciting information about the most recent 7th Grade Math meet:

On Tuesday, February 2nd, the HMS 7th Grade Math Team traveled to the Middle School in Kennebunk for the year's second math meet. The rounds were a bit more challenging for all who participated. Our team progressed in the standings from 17th place in December to our current 14th place standing. That is great progress! We've set our sights on cracking the top ten at the next meet on March 15th, at Saco Middle School!
 
Elena Miller, Zoe Siegel, Abby Wentzell, Evan Lucca, Annie Lowenstein, and Puja Patel competed at this meet. Congratulations to all!
                                                  

2016 Scholastic Writing Awards

We're excited to announce the 2016 Scholastic Writing Awards for the Maine Region!Gold Awards: Alex Augur and Sadie Cowles

Silver Awards: Harry Mellor, Cloe DeCristoforo, Evan Lucca, Najee McQueen, Michael McNeil, Quincy Whipple

Honorable Mention: Shanti Gallivan, Samson O'Donnell, Louisa Thompson-Longshore, Tristan Winchester, and Amelia Watt
Congratulations to these students and their teachers: Charlotte Agell, Ira Warshaw, Brad Martin, Mike Hagerty, and Marsha Newick for this impressive accomplishment. We thank them for sharing their talent and creativity with us.  Award-winning students and their teachers will be recognized at the upcoming award ceremony.  The award ceremony will be held on Friday, March 11, 2016 at 6:00 p.m., at the Talbot Lecture Hall, Luther Bonney, University of Southern Maine, Portland Campus

The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards were founded in 1923. As their website notes: Since its founding, the Awards have established an amazing track record for identifying the early promise of our nation’s most accomplished and prolific creative leaders. Alumni include artists Andy Warhol, Philip Pearlstein, Cy Twombly, Robert Indiana, Kay WalkingStick, and John Baldessari; writers Sylvia Plath, Truman Capote, Bernard Malamud, Maya Goldberg, and Joyce Carol Oates; photographer Richard Avedon (who won for poetry); actors Frances Farmer, Robert Redford, Alan Arkin, and John Lithgow; and filmmakers Stan Brakhage, Ken Burns, and Richard Linklater. Outside the arts, Awards alumni employ their creativity to become successful in any number of ways – leaders in fields including journalism, medicine, finance, government and public service, the law, science, design, and more.

Amelia Watt, Cloe DeCristoforo, Sadie Cowles, Alex Auger, Harry Mellor, Quincy Whipple, Sam O'Donnell, Shanti Gallivan, Najee McQueen, Michael McNeil, (Louisa Thompson, Tristan Winchester, and Evan Lucca unfortunately not pictured here)

2016 HMS Spelling Bee

Congratulations to the following students who participated in the 2016 HMS Spelling Bee Finals: 

5th Grade Finalists: Lilijana Allen and Ben Sanborn
6th Grade Finalists: Stefan Bell and Eero Hoffsten 
7th Grade Finalists: Evan Lucca, and Davis Young
8th Grade Finalist: Cloe DeCristoforo and Will Nicholas
 
These students are to be commended for their knowledge and perseverance during this competition!

Congratulations to Stefan Bell and Evan Lucca, FINALISTS in 2016 Spelling Bee! Stefan and Evan will participate in the County Spelling Bee.

Special thanks to Mrs. Kilpatrick for her facilitation of the HMS Bee. 

Thanks to Holly Allen for these photos:

Stefan Bell, Molly Kilpatrick, and Evan Lucca

Lilijana Allen, Cloe DeCristoforo, Eero Hoffsten, Stefan Bell, Evan Lucca, Davis Young, Ben Sanborn, Will Nicholas-not pictured here given his participation in a ski event

2016 HMS Geo Bee

Congratulations to the following students who participated in the 2016 HMS Geo Bee Finals: Eighth grade finalists:  Ella Caruso (unfortunately unable to attend the finals due to illness), John Clinton, Will Giese, Spencer King, and Joe Lucien. Seventh grade finalists:  Max Brewer, Lee Federle, Jacob Gautreau, Miles Hagedorn, and Evan Lucca. These students are to be commended for their knowledge and perseverance during this competition. Congratulations to Evan Lucca, WINNER of the 2016 Geo Bee, Jacob Gautreau, runner up, and Will Giese who came in third place. These students performed admirably during this competition! Evan will work with Mrs. Newick to prepare for the next competition. Special thanks to Mrs. Newick for her continuing support of all students involved in the Geo Bee, and her facilitation of this event!  Photos by Holly Allen:
Jacob Gautreau, Evan Lucca, and Will Giese Mr. Brann, Evan Lucca, and Mrs. Newick Lee Federle, Miles Hagedorn, Max Brewer, Jacob Gautreau, Spencer King, Evan Lucca, Joe Lucien, Will Giese, and John Clinton

7th/8th Grade Math Team Competes in Saco

Jay Harrington, 7th/8th Math Team Advisor shared the following information about a recent meet. Congratulations to all!

Before break, the 7th Grade Math Team travelled to Saco Middle School, fielding a competitive team for the first time in over two years. The cafeteria was packed wall-to-wall! The team voted to take a competitive disadvantage so that they could compete against each other boys vs. girls. Both groups solved some really tough, complex problems. I would recommend asking the girls if you want to know which group scored the highest! 

 

A great time was had by all and we're looking forward to next month's meet at The Middle School of the Kennebunks.

The "Boys" Team: (left to right) G.W. Ruth, Evan Van Lonkhuyzen, Michael Krah, Erik Borda, and Evan Lucca	The "Girls" Team: (left to right)Anushka Canfield, Natalie Teare, Parker Harnett, Puja Patel, and Zoe Siegel

Yarmouth Digital Media Club featured in the Forcaster

Please enjoy the article below, which was featured in the Forecaster on 12.28.15.

Yarmouth school club puts digital media skills to work

By Kate Gardner on December 28, 2015@katevgardner

YARMOUTH — A lot of kids use digital media in the classroom and at home. At Harrison Middle School, students have made it part of their extracurricular activities, too.The goal of the Digital Media Club is to “mostly just develop some skills around video production, but also to show them it can be fun,” said Mike Arsenault, the instructional technology integrator who advises club members.

According to Arsenault, more than a dozen students participate, most of them fifth- and sixth-graders. The club, which was started last year by a student who now attends Yarmouth High School, was able to buy technology and equipment with a grant from the Yarmouth Education Foundation. Around $6,000 from YEF was used to purchase cameras, Final Cut Pro video editing software, cases, tripods, shoulder mounts, microphones and an iMac computer.

“My goal is to introduce the kids to the tools so they can use them in the classroom,” Arsenault said. The kids mostly work on video production in the club, but Arsenault said they’re free to work on a variety of things, such as photo editing, animation and using GarageBand software. “A lot of this is creating whatever they feel like creating,” he said.

One thing the club recently created was a video with 317 Main Community Music Center. Arsenault said the club was approached by Amy Sinclair, the music center’s director of marketing and communications, about collaborating on the project.“She was great working with kids through the shoot and with editing after the shoot,” Arsenault said.

Five students worked with 317 Main to create Project Wonderland, a holiday video showcasing musicians at the center. The students did camera work and editing, and were also in the video.Seventh-grader Eleanor Zimmerman said she used a lot of skills she already had when working on the video, but also learned new things about editing. “I really like editing,” she said. “It was really fun.” Arsenault said he was impressed by the work the students did on the project. “I knew it’d come out well, but I was pleasantly surprised,” he said. “They did a great job with it.”

The club doesn’t have any plans to partner with community organizations in the future, but will focus on doing school projects, Arsenault said. “There’s always so many great things going on within the school, but we don’t always promote them enough,” he said.

Although Arsenault wants to do more digital media projects at Harrison Middle, the school already is known for its innovative technology. It has been named an Apple Distinguished School since 2007, with the exception of the 2013-14 school year. According to Arsenault, the award is presented to schools that have innovative learning and teaching, ongoing professional learning, a flexible learning environment and also show visionary leadership.

Arsenault, who’s a Google Certified Innovator, said the club is a great way for kids to learn about digital media but, more importantly, it’s a way for them to see that creating things with technology is fun. Zimmerman said the club has taught her both of Arsenault’s objectives. “Sometimes I wonder if I can do something on iMovie and Mr. Arsenault always knows, and helps me,” she said.

Kate Gardner can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 125 or kgardner@theforecaster.net. Follow her on Twitter: @katevgardner.

Mike Arsenault, Harrison Middle School’s instructional technology integrator, works with fifth-graders Finn Snow, left, Jackson Stewart, and Tommy Dollarhite at the Dec. 14 meeting of the school’s Digital Media Club.