February 3, 2020
In addition to a lot of Super Bowl gatherings (granted, they were a lot more sedate than they would have been if the Ravens had been in the big game), there was a lot of great “coming together” happening around the region this past weekend, and it had a distinctly Y slant to it.
On Saturday, 13 Baltimore City Public School FIRST Lego League (FLL) Robotics teams gathered at Y Community School Fort Worthington Elementary and Middle for the Baltimore City FLL Qualifier. The competition provides students ages 9 to 14 with an interactive robotics program in a competitive environment. Teams of up to ten students spent months learning how to code and program robots, consider innovative ways robotics can solve global issues, and develop the FLL core values of discovery, innovation, impact inclusion, teamwork, and fun!
With the help of Y volunteer and associate coaches, four Y Community School teams participated: Graceland Park, Holabird, Lakeland, and Moravia Park.
Throughout the morning, teams were judged in three areas: Robot Design, Core Values, and Project Design. In the afternoon, they had the opportunity to demonstrate their coding skills during the robot rounds. After months of hard work, three teams, "Govans Dragon Designers," "Lakeland Builders" and "Robo Preps" will be advancing to the state competition!
Several other teams received trophies and awards for outstanding performance in one or two areas.
Govans Dragon Designers received the Champion and Robot Performance Trophies as well as the Global Innovation Award.
Westport Warriors received the Robot Design trophy,
Lakeland Builders received the Innovation Trophy,
High Tech 229 received the core values trophy and
Graceland Park received the Rising Star Judges Award.
Congratulations to the students and thanks to all who helped make this exciting and inspiring event a success, including 28 community volunteers who served as coaches and judges, Fort Worthington's Principal, Monique Debi, Y associates Eric Summerville, Sasha Batts, Justin Hunt, Charmayne Turner, Jessica Chiaramonte and Paige Coressel. Well done!
Additionally, 256 students from across the state gathered at the Y Training Center to begin the 77th year of Maryland Youth & Government (Y&G), the experiential Y program in which the fundamentals of democracy and governmental leadership are modeled by high school students. At the Y&G Training Conference, students begin to learn the roles they will serve at the upcoming legislative session: legislator, lobbyist, members of the press, or lawyer.
Students in the legislature are tasked with writing a bill on an issue they are passionate about effecting in the Maryland law. Bill topics in the past have ranged from banning the use of plastic bags to lowering the age of voting to 16. The Youth & Government program culminates in a three day session in April in Annapolis, where participants participate in a mock legislative session held in the Maryland State House. Additionally, four of the Y&G students joined me this past week as several of us were in Annapolis talking to our legislators about matters important to the Y. They were recognized on the floor of both the House of Delegates and Senate, and spent some time with Senator Cory McCray and Delegate Regina Boyce, who both just happen to be big Y supporters.
To assure that all of the young people participating in Youth & Government can dress in a manner appropriate to being in the State House, over 600 pieces of professional attire were donated by Y associates and members to the "Y&G Clothing Closet", which students were able to shop during lunch. One student was overheard saying "I'm so glad that you had these available because I don't have any professional clothes at home!"
As is always the case with Y programs, none of this would be possible without the help of many donors and 42 dedicated volunteers who serve as Delegation Advisors and Program Mentors, along with many able Y associates led by Grace Chaisson. Thank you all.
When one sometimes wonders about the future of democracy, the energy, spirit and tenacity of these young people and their Y coaches provides a reason for hope and enthusiasm about a bright future. All I can say is "hurry up! We need you!"
All the best,
John
John K. Hoey
President & CEO
The Y in Central Maryland