FIRST-rate Support
April 9, 2003     Greenville Herald Banner

To the Editor:

As we leave to attend national competition for FIRST this week, the GHS Robowranglers have many people to thank for our recent success.

First and foremost, L-3 Communications for its constant support of the GHS robotics program.  Not only for the use of the facilities but the biggest thanks is for nurturing the program with financial support and volunteer engineers.  These men give freely of their time and talent and never forget the ultimate goal is the education of a student.  The men give up family time, vacation time, and personal time to help us build a robot and compete with that robot.  This year's entry is a testament to their development of young engineers.  When the students asked to plan and build a robot with an arm mechanism, they were taught how to build it, how it would work and then it was built.

Our school district for having the vision in supporting a robotics team.  Students interested in the field of engineering as a career have a place in high school to learn and to participate.  GISD has secured a unique education experience and solidly supports our efforts.  We are always proud to be the team from Greenville High School.

Other in the community work very hard with our team each year.  Mr. Ed Thatcher, city manager, dedicates many volunteer hours to our team to insure we represent our city and helps create an atmosphere of learning for our team.  Mr. Thatcher is the first one we turn to when we need to create a new look for our team.  The Noon Rotary Club always has us as their guests and gives us the opportunity to bring our robot into the community.  This year their donation to the team greatly defrayed several expenses we have faced.  A financial scholarship from Dr. Hurst and his staff has really helped this year, also.

Home Depot made a big difference in our competition abilities, as they provided us with all the wood needed to create a practice field.  Blackland Glass made sure we had the proper landing ramp for our robot and we learned about traction because of their donation.

Tony Norman, Bob Mimlitch and the other folks at Innovation First deserve a big thanks for making sure all of our entries this year were possible.  We have really enjoyed the computer donation and put it to use everyday as we learn programming and computer animation.

Thanks to all the parents, grandparents and friends for their donations during our bake sale.  The students of GHS for making our fundraiser "Pennies for the Bot" so successful.

Last, but definitely, not least, the Herald-Banner has publicized the achievement of our team.  We have been able to tell our story to the community this year through several articles.  We want to thank Melva Geyer and her hard working staff for always getting the word out about Team 148.  Seeing your name in print for a positive accomplishment is always a moral booster to any one, especially a young man or woman representing their community through competition.

No ones' efforts go unnoticed.  As we were awarded one of our trophies this year, the announcer listed all of the above mention people in our statement of winning.  The judges had heard us talk about each and everyone and wanted to commend our community for being such a large part of the team.

We will be in Houston this weekend at the "Super Bowl of Smarts" and Mr. Norman, we will be "living our dream" thanks to you beginning a robotics team at Greenville High School.

Sincerely,
Vanessa Pope
Terri Galloway
and the students of
GHS Robotics, Team 148
The Robowranglers