Photo Briefs: Code Red Robotics, poet laureate, teacher residency retreats

Ithaca High School Robotics Team starts building 125-pound robot

Code Red Robotics, the Ithaca High School robotics team, is competing in the global FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition. A new game is released annually, and the team enters a six-week build season to create a robot for competition. This year, due to COVID-19, FIRST chose to revamp last year’s game and add several remote challenges for teams to complete. When the new school year began, Code Red Robotics welcomed 17 new students onto the team, bringing the total team enrollment to 53 student members, as well as several adult mentors from the Ithaca community. These mentors are local STEM professionals who have volunteered to help teach the team practical engineering skills. “Last year, we were on a good run to make it to the championships,” said design team head Lukas Jander. “Build season had gone very well, the robot was ‘all systems running,’ and we felt ready to take on the world.” As junior mentor Nick Wight put it, “We were on track to make a great robot.” But then, just two hours after Code Red arrived at the regional competition event March 12, it was canceled, and they had to pack up and go home. This came after the other regional that Code Red had planned to attend was also canceled following COVID-19 concerns. Over the past few months, Code Red meetings have been very limited in scope. Due to Ithaca City School District protocols for student organizations, only a few essential veterans and rookies have been allowed into the high school to work on and test the robot. At the moment, the team has only had two in-person meetings, but they plan to enter a hybrid model for the build season. Team President Emma Pellecer explained, “When we do switch to a hybrid build, there’s going to be some people virtually and some people in person. … [For] those who are in person, we will restrict the amount of people who are going to school, and they’ll have to social distance and wear masks.” On Jan. 9, Code Red Robotics transitioned into build season. FIRST released the updated rules for the FRC (FIRST Robotics Competition) game Infinite Recharge (The video link can be found here: https://youtu.be/I77Dz9pfds4). At the fully virtual kickoff, Code Red members looked at the game rules and began to strategize. During the next six weeks, the team will work on testing and upgrading its robot. Competitions, if they are able to be in person, will begin in March. Code Red Robotics is currently led by seven officers who were elected last spring. The officer team consists of President Emma Pellecer, VP/Build Team Manager Emily Klaben, Community Outreach Officer Richard Lin, Public Relations Officer Andrew McCracken, Treasurer Henry Deitcher, Team Administrator Perrin Woods and Safety Officer Matt Ellis. For further information about FIRST, Jr. FIRST Lego League and Code Red Robotics, please email ikrywe@icsd.k12.ny.us, or go to the team website (www.team639.org) and the FIRST website (www.firstinspires.org).

 

Legislature chooses poet laureate

Last week, the Tompkins County Legislature appointed Christine Kitano as the county’s next poet laureate. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Kitano lives in Brooktondale and is an assistant professor at Ithaca College, where she teaches poetry and Asian American literature. She also serves on the faculty for the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. She is the author of two collections of poetry, “Birds of Paradise” (Lynx House Press) and “Sky Country” (BOA Editions), which won the Central New York Book Award. Kitano is the 10th poet laureate to be appointed for Tompkins County. She succeeds Melissa Tuckey, who served from 2019 through 2020. The position of Tompkins County Poet Laureate was established by the Tompkins County Legislature in 2001 to honor local outstanding poets, integrate poetry into the community, enrich the education of our young people and enhance the county’s position as a cultural center. Megan Barber, executive director of the Community Arts Partnership, which administers the poet laureate selection process, said, “We received nominations for eight outstanding local poets, each with unique ideas about how to put poetry in service to the community. We are so excited about Dr. Kitano’s appointment.” In her letter nominating Kitano, Eleanor Henderson, Robert Ryan Professor in the Humanities and chair of the Department of Writing at Ithaca College, praised Kitano’s commitment to equity, inclusion and antiracism, adding “Dr. Kitano has a calm, confident way of bringing people together around language, and I could imagine her doing so again and again in the position of poet laureate.” Kitano said, “I am honored to serve as Tompkins County poet laureate and look forward to bringing more poetry into the community.” Tompkins County Legislator Amanda Champion said, “We received many incredible applications for this year’s poet laureate — the talent and beauty of our community never ceases to amaze me. We’re delighted to welcome Kitano in this role and look forward to a year of poignant prose that will capture the moment and inspire us all.”

 

Teacher Residency Retreats

The Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts, in partnership with the Fine Arts Booster Group (FABG), is offering a creative retreat for teachers of the Ithaca City School District (ICSD) and other districts in Tompkins County during the February and April school breaks. The program is designed to provide residency-type retreats for local teachers in creative writing, photography/film/video and painting/sculpture/visual art. It is totally free for teachers selected through a lottery system. ICSD teachers and staff selected for 2021 include: Naomi Raimon (visual art teacher at Lehman Alternative Community School), Jon Raimon (creative writing teacher at Lehman Alternative Community School), Alexandra Hartley (teacher at Lehman Alternative Community School) and Gwen Daniels (substitute teacher at Boynton Middle School and other schools). The teachers will be provided with a five-day, four-night retreat with private accommodations, studio space and hearty, chef-prepared vegetarian dinners. These retreats are modeled after Saltonstall’s summer residency program and provide our local teachers with uninterrupted time and space in which to focus on their own creative endeavors. Above, one of Saltonstall’s studios. Visit www.fabgithaca.org for more information. For more information about the booster group and how you can help, contact co-presidents Alice Wu and Julie Hughes at president@fabgithaca.org or 607-256-4734. If you want to stay informed about what is happening with the fine and performing arts in the ICSD, consider following @fabgithaca on Twitter and Facebook or join the Listserv by emailing fineartsboostersithaca+subscribe@groups.io.