Guy's Space Elevator Press Release

"Hello, I am an eighth grader named Guy Beaudoin. I am on my school's FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) robotics team. For those of you who don't know, FIRST is an organization that helps kids learn engineering and programming in an environment where teamwork and gracious professionalism are required. On the 14th of August we went to a competition in Redmond. It was at the Microsoft conference center and it was about the possibility of creating a space elevator. A space elevator is a very large satellite being launched into space and a tether being lowered down to a platform in the ocean. The competition was about building a robot and having it climb up 16 feet of ribbon. Sounds easy, right? Not if you have to build it out of Lego parts. Even though we had already lost (getting no points in any of the three rounds), the judges let us do one last run up the ribbon, and our robot finally worked. When it reached the top carrying four half pound weights everybody in the room was ecstatic. We would have gotten the highest score in our category, and the second highest score of the day if it had been part of our first three runs. Even though we didn't win we learned a lot and participating in this will help us in the FIRST competition. I think that FIRST is an amazing organization and should be an after school program everywhere in the U.S. (or maybe even an in school robotics class). It is a fun and interesting way to learn about robotics and is suited to every age level. There is FIRST Robotics Competition and FIRST Tech Challenge for high school, FIRST Lego League for Intermediate and Middle School, and Jr. FIRST Lego League for kindergarten through third grade. They do cost money for schools, but using donations or the school Kiwanis, they can easily start one up."
Guy Beaudoin