Bringing FIRST to Battle Creek, MI for over a decade!
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Q Branch is proud to inspire Battle Creek by being the eight-time host of the Michigan FTC State Championship, the five-time host of the Lakeview FRC District Event, and four-time host of the FLL, Jr. Expo. We will also host the FLL Challenge Qualifier and FTC Lakeview Qualifier for the first time this year. At these events, all members function alongside alumni as volunteers. We recruit judges and volunteers, organize the event, set up, tear down, and ensure overall sustainability within the community. When the Michigan FTC State Championship grew too large in the number of teams for our high school gyms, we helped move the event to downtown Battle Creek inside Kellogg Arena so we could continue hosting the event in our community. We love showing the FIRST community "How We Robot"!
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K-12 District - Wide Program
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In 2015, our Lakeview School District’s FIRST program began the journey of growing from one FRC team to 11 FIRST teams as of 2022. Our members serve as mentors to inspire over 80 younger students and show them “How We Robot”. We have two FTC teams and two FLL teams at our middle school as well as six FLL, Jr. teams with at least one at each of our elementary schools. We are proud to say any Lakeview student at any level can take part in FIRST. We have added at least one additional FIRST team to our district wide program each year! These students are all empowered by STEM and our students love working with them.
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New for 2019: Rookie Team 7811 - The STP Tigers!
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Our team is proud to present the STP Tigers team 7811! We contacted St. Philip with information on the state rookie grants and offering our support. The school was able to recruit a coach and a small team. We spent every Saturday of build season with this amazing group in our build space teaching them about FIRST and How We Robot. The team participated in the Lakeview District Event with us where they won the Rookie All Star Award! We are so excited for them to take what they have learned to the State Championship! We have made many new friendships and our teams will forever be connected on and off the field!
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Summer Projects - Heavy Metal, Heavy Metal 2.0 & HugBot
Creating outreach robots over the summer allows our returning members to empower new team members with the skills needed during the robotics season. We then inspire our community with the use of the outreach robots. This is shown in our ten-barrel t-shirt and candy launching cannon known as “Heavy Metal.” Our approachable “HugBot,” a giant actuated teddy bear mounted to a chassis inspires our community with pneumatic-powered hugs. We feature these bots at events like our homecoming parade, football games, baseball games, and book fairs. At our own FLL, Jr. Expo in 2018 we brought Heavy Metal to show our younger teams as well as all visiting teams what is possible through our mantra of “How We Robot.”
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Why the Pink?
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We often get asked where the pink came from. In 2016 our team decided we needed to stand out more. The black did not identify us as a team well and we were often drowned out in the stands with teams who had more of an identity. Our team members also struggled to connect to our group. At that time, our mechanics captain Joanna hated the color pink. In fact, rumor has it that the team voted on pink just so Joanna would have to wear it. Well, she did and we have identified with the color ever since. Over time the pink evolved from a fainter color, to a neon, and then to the now recognized Power Pink we keep year after year. With the Power Pink came the mantra "This Is How We Robot" which helps us communicate our team culture to our new members and to other teams. The pink fits our team, we tend to be serious but not too serious. Our team has a playful side (as seen with Fredrick the Goose) and we encourage students to still entertain the kid inside of them.
For a full history of our team imagery, click the button below! |
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What is FIRST?
For the Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, FIRST seeks to connect young engineers with working professionals through the vehicle of an annual athletic style robotics competition. For over 20 years FIRST founders Dean Kamen and Woodie Flowers have been coming up with original games or challenges for teams across the world. The work of FIRST developed millions of dollars in scholarship opportunities, developed interested in science and math which otherwise would not be present and connected countless inspiring professional engineers with eager youth seeking to learn.
Establishment of 4327
In December of 2011, Mr. John Burdette, science teacher at Lakeview High School, found a program which could satisfy the need of introducing students to engineering prior to leaving for university. During its first season of 2012, Team 4327 was known as "The Autobots" by student suggestion. In its rookie season, the team won their very first District competition at Gull Lake.
Why Q Branch?
Following the initial success of their first season, Team 4327 changed their name to fit more of their overarching character. By student suggestion, in December 2012, the team changed its name to "Q Branch". This moniker is a reference to the Sir Ian Fleming novels about the adventurous British agent James Bond and his quartermaster, Q. Throughout the novels and films, Q always stood as the source of all of Bond's neat gadgets utilized in his missions. The sector of MI:6 to which Q belongs is known as Q Branch.
Annual Challenge and Season Schedule
FIRST unveils the annual challenge or game every January. Until then the purpose of the season is kept under lock and key by the game design committee. Following the first Saturday in January, teams have roughly six weeks in which to understand the challenge, design and construct a working solution (robot). On "Stop Build Day" in February, teams must seal their machines in large plastic bags and cannot work on the project again until the week leading up to competition.
Each year, Q Branch participates in our "Home Event" at Lakeview High School in Battle Creek, Michigan as well as other event sites around the state. All competitions are open and free to the public. Your support is greatly encouraged!
Since teams have an open six weeks for building the robot, the schedule is unique to the program. Q Branch meets in January and February during the build season Tuesday through Thursday from 5:00 pm until 8:00 pm and Saturdays from 8:00 am until 4:00 pm. During the fall season, to prepare for the upcoming competition we meet regularly on Fridays from 3:00 pm until 3:30 pm.
Each year, Q Branch participates in our "Home Event" at Lakeview High School in Battle Creek, Michigan as well as other event sites around the state. All competitions are open and free to the public. Your support is greatly encouraged!
Since teams have an open six weeks for building the robot, the schedule is unique to the program. Q Branch meets in January and February during the build season Tuesday through Thursday from 5:00 pm until 8:00 pm and Saturdays from 8:00 am until 4:00 pm. During the fall season, to prepare for the upcoming competition we meet regularly on Fridays from 3:00 pm until 3:30 pm.
2018 Chairman's Video Submission
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Thanks to our Chairman's team, 2018 is the first year we have completed the Chairman's submission. This is the most prestigious award in FIRST and we are so proud to be able to submit the student created video and essay. The team put in many hours during the season to film, edit, and modify the video. We are so proud at the constructive criticism they took to continue to make it better.
This is historical. This Is How We Robot. |
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