During late May the LigerBots marched in Newton’s Memorial Day parade, met with our mayor, and attended several outreach events, all while wrapping up the school year.

We walked in the Newton Memorial Day parade in the cold rain, with our 2016 and 2018 robots covered in plastic bags when it drizzled, to protect their electronic components. Our team crossed the finish line at Magni-Coletti Park, tossing a ball into Mayor Fuller’s hands with our 2016 robot and collecting our Cabot’s ice-cream reward. It was cool to see all the people who came out in support of the veterans, even with the terrible New England weather!

We had another opportunity to meet with Mayor Fuller a week later when more than fifteen LigerBots students met with her in her office at Newton City Hall so she could congratulate us on our achievements this season. She also encouraged the girls on our team to run for leadership positions. She wore an orange dress to advocate for gun violence awareness, which coincidentally coordinated very well with our orange tie-dye t-shirts! We thanked Mayor Fuller for her generous contributions to the team, both personal and city-wide, and gave her a packet of information about the LigerBots.

During post-season we do a lot of outreach events. This week we attended the ECIA Conference and Newton South Science Day. We brought our 2016 robot to the ECIA (Electronic Components Industry Association) conference at the Westin Waltham Boston hotel and spoke about the FIRST organization with about 80 people in the robotics and electronic manufacturing industries, some of which were from companies that supply parts we have on our robot. They enjoyed driving the robot and catching the ball it throws.

At Newton South Science Day, a fair that showcases student science projects, we demonstrated our robot for our fellow students at Newton South High School. The students were very eager to take photos of our robot!

Please look for us in June when we do more outreach in our community: at the Weston Field School on June 9 in a demo for elementary school students, at Newton Highlands Village Day on June 10 from 11a.m. -4 p.m., at the Tour de Newton bicycling event on June 17 from 9 a.m. -1 p.m., and at our own FIRST LEGO League Info Night, at Newton North High School on June 20 from 7-9 p.m.

We recently held annual elections for the three general leadership positions on our team: the chief operating officer (COO), the chief technical officer (CTO), and the chief marketing officer (CMO). Eleven people made speeches advocating their strengths and responded to questions from the team about how they would handle the the tasks that would come with the positions. From among these the team chose three students that we know will do a great job of helping to run our team next school year.

We wished farewell to our seniors as they graduated from Newton North on Wednesday and from South on Thursday. We will miss them dearly and wish them the best in their college careers. It was a treat to have Mayor Fuller make a generous acknowledgment of the LigerBots in her speech at the graduation, saying we were a team she had learned a lot from.

All in all, May has been a wonderful month for us!