The FLYBY
Spring 2009
Issue 5
Newsletter for SETLA Members
Special points of interest:
Chairman—Ray Montes
President– Bill Thacker
Executive VP—Tap Kartiala
VP Community Relations– Paul Fitzgerald
VP Education—Ken McKinney
Treasurer— Allan Smith
Secretary—Gil Nelson
Directors—Bill Rigert, Glenda Shim, Brent Waln and Mark Wright
From the Executive VP
∗
Scholarship Project
∗
FIRST LEGO Project
What is SETLA (Scientists, Engineers, and Technicians Leadership Association) all about?
∗
Super Science Saturday
∗
Team America Rocketry
SETLA is a 501-3C non profit corporation whose main purpose is to provide its members with leadership training opportunities through community involvement. A member can gain hands-on leadership training in several ways:
∗
Toys For Troops Project
1.
2.
3.
4.
By chairing a project you can learn planning, scheduling, budgeting and problem solving skills.
You also improve your people skills as you solicit volunteer help to run your project.
By being a member of a project committee you can see how leadership skills are applied to
bring a project to a successful completion. “FLEW” Project below as an example
By becoming an officer of SETLA you can learn how a non profit corporation is run.
By attending meetings you can hear the progress reports on projects in work.
There are other benefits of membership such as social functions and making new friends.
And SETLA has no membership dues at this time and guests are always welcome at our meetings.
Complimentary lunches are served . Hope to see you at our next meeting along with your guest!
Inside this issue:
From the Executive VP
1
For more information, contact a SETLA officer or member or visit our web site at: http://
setla2004.org
SETLA Scholarships
2
Tap Kartiala, Executive VP
FIRST LEGO League
2
Super Science Saturday
4
Team America Rocketry
5
Toys for Troops
6
Cover Aircraft Story
6
Come to our monthly General Membership meetings. Get involved!
The FLYBY
Page 2
SETLA Awards Scholarships to Local Students
The Scientists, Engineers and Technicians Leadership Association awarded
scholarships to five local students at its second annual Scholarship Awards Luncheon May 19, 2008.
Ray Montes, 2007-2008 President of SETLA, and Bill
Rigert, 2007-2008 SETLA chairman of the board, presented the
scholarships.
Among the recipients and awardees were: Scott Widholm (Clark
Magnet HS) — $1,000; Shawna Truong (Knight HS) — $1,000;
Jarod Corey (Mojave HS) — $1,000; Mitchell Frevert (AV College) — $1,000; and Caitlin Fitzgerald (UC Davis) — $1,000.
To qualify for the scholarship, students must be high
school graduates with a firm commitment to pursue an education in
a science, engineering or technical field, or have completed at least
two years of college and are going on to pursue a degree in a science, engineering or technical program.
Students are evaluated based on application completeness, communication
skills (writing), planned course of study, academic performance, community and Left to right: Mitchell Frevert, Jarod Corey, Ray
extra curricular involvement, the applicant’s essay and if possible, an in-person in- Montes, Shawna Truong and Scott Widholm.
terview, at the discretion of the Selection Committee.
Not present—Caitlin Fitzgerald
SETLA is accepting scholarship applications for the 2008-2009 school year
until March 30, 2009. Scholarship forms are available at high school scholarship
offices, or on SETLA’s Web site at http://setla2004.org/.
Photo courtesy of AV Press
2008 FIRST LEGO League Robotics Competition
The 2008 FIRST LEGO League (FLL) adventure in robotics culminated with the Los Angeles Regional Championships
on Sunday, December 7, at LEGOLAND in Carlsbad, California. The Antelope Valley team sAVvy was one of seven Girl Scout
groups competing in the 52-team tournament. Morning events included judging in robot design, research presentation and teamwork with a practice round opportunity in the LEGOLAND Showplace Theatre. The afternoon was full of excitement as each team
scored points in three fast-paced robotic rounds on the big
stage. As the sun set, a crowd of about 800 filled the Fun
Town Stage for the closing ceremonies. Each team member
was wearing proudly around their necks an official FLL
medal on a turquoise ribbon, and each was feeling like a
champion.
Team sAVvy won the third place robotics trophy
and was also awarded the Judge’s Award in special recognition for their unique efforts and performance.
2008 is the second year of SETLA sponsorship for
the sAVvy FLL Team. SETLA provides funding for the
LEGO MINDSTORMS © robotics kits and laptop computer
for programming the on-board computer module, in addition
to coaching and technical support. The 2008 LM SETLA
coaches are Vanessa Hartenstine and Renee Pasman.
(Continued)
Team sAVvy Left to Right: Ceilidh Roughton, Regan Basham, Jada Ward,
Aisha Rigert and Amanda Burns
SETLA Election Results
The FLYBY
Page 3
2008 FIRST LEGO League Robotics (continued)
The theme for this year’s competition was “Climate Connections”. Each team had about 10
weeks to build an autonomous robot that was capable of completing pre-designed missions in 2
minutes and 30 seconds. In addition to design validation by demonstration, each team presented
their design solution to a panel of judges. Scores are based on technical performance, teamwork,
presentation skills and other factors.
FIRST LEGO League is a global program created to get kids
aged 9-14 excited about science and technology. FIRST is an
acronym for “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and
Technology” and was founded by Dean Kamen, inventor of the
Segway Human Transporter. In the 2007 season, over 100,000
children participated in the FIRST LEGO League in 38 countries.
Above—
Team sAVvy Members Amanda Burns and Aisha Rigert
Left—At foreground table Left to Right
Team sAVvy Members Ceilidh Roughton and Regan Basham
Los Angeles Regional Championships Closing Ceremonies
The FLYBY
Page 4
Super Science Saturday at Joe Walker Middle School
LMLA (Lockheed Martin Leadership Association) and Joe Walker Middle School teamed up on November
15 to produce Super Science Saturday and create excitement for 450 kids. Perhaps more excited were the 33 LM
Aero employees who volunteered to facilitate the classroom science and engineering projects. From egg drops, to
rockets, to word games, the young participants focused on using engineering processes to develop a product or
reach a conclusion.
For the second year, SETLA provided a supporting role to LMLA with SETLA members Paul Fitzgerald,
Allan Smith, Ken McKinney, Ray Montes, Bill Thacker and Mark Wright participating in the event. Mark Wright
and Bill Thacker helped teams of 2 build an egg drop device out of soda straws. Each team was given the same
number of soda straws, tape and time to construct their egg cradle. Once their egg cradle was ready they proceeded
to a platform that was positioned 12 feet above a small child's wading pool. The eggs, nestled in their cradles were
dropped one-by-one to see if it could survive the impact. More than 30% of the teams were successful with some
ingenious designs.
Super Science Saturday is an elementary and middle school science program designed to encourage youngsters to learn and become the engineers of our future. Josh Clemens, LMLA team organizer states, "Our presence at
this annual event hopefully inspires young minds to seek out careers in science and engineering. We would like
nothing more than to see some of these students working for Lockheed Martin in the future."
The LMLA has been an integral part of this programs’ success during its 14 year history. Aeronautics’
employees provide the volunteers, many with engineering background, to offer guidance and facilitate the science
principles which make up the core educational goals. The students are given a variety of assignments, and then apply an engineering process which leads them to conclusions. Our volunteers introduce real life thinking into the
young minds that will be our future.
In answer to the question “what’s in it for me?” Mr. Clemens summed this up by saying, “It's always a joy
to be a part of Super Science Saturday. The students bring knowledge, creativity and enthusiasm that make the experience quite rewarding for the volunteers involved.”
The FLYBY
Page 5
Team America Rocketry Challenge
In 2008 Knight High School participated in the Team America Rocketry Challenge. Two teams competed
in the competition to design, build and test a rocket to send two eggs to 750 feet and safely return them to earth.
The top 100 teams would be invited to Virginia to compete for over $50,000 in scholarship prizes.
Both Knight High School teams succeeded in designing and building a rocket that
would meet the qualifications of the contest. One
of the teams submitted a qualifying score low
enough to earn an invitation to the national competition in Virginia. The KHS qualifying team
scored well enough in Virginia to secure 34th
place; an improvement over the 2007 KHS performance of 78th place.
Knight High School will compete in the
Team America Rocketry for the third year in a row. The competition has changed slightly in that the challenge for
the 2009 contest is to carry one egg to 750 feet, and return the egg safely to the ground in 45 seconds. For this year
the contest requires that the egg be positioned horizontally, to mimic the orientation of astronauts aboard the Orion
spacecraft. The students are currently in the design phase, and will soon begin construction of their rockets; and
will begin flight test the first part of March.
For the first time, Knight High
School is fielding a third rocket team. This
team is called the KHS IRAD team, and
will be charged with rocketry related research and development. This team will
serve to develop the engineering and rocketry skills of the students; before they
move on to the school’s competition teams.
This group is currently building rockets to
characterize the change in drag as a function of the shape of the rocket’s fins. They
hope to continue to collaborate with the
Lancaster University Center by utilizing the CSU Fresno wind tunnel to assist in this characterization.
Page 6
Newsletter for SETLA Members
Toys For Troops Project
What? Toys for our soldiers? No. They’re not for the troops to play with;
they are for handing out to local kids in Afghanistan. The purpose is to generate good
will for our soldiers, and to let them know we support them. The goal is to collect at
least 200 toys and send them to Afghanistan by March 2009.
38733 9th Street East
Palmdale, CA 93550
So far, the participation has been outstanding. We have already collected
quite a few toys. If you would like to contribute toys, please contact the SETLA office
and arrange for them to be picked up or bring them to a SETLA general membership
meeting.
661-267-1505
E-mail: setla2005@sbcglobal.net
www.setla2004.org
Leadership through learning
and practice.
Remember, the toys need to be pocket sized so they will be easy to carry.
And don’t forget that kids come in two different models; boys and girls.
Thanks for your support,
Tap Kartiala
Project Chairman
On the Cover — F22
The F22 Raptor is the Air Force’s newest fighter aircraft.
Its combination of stealth, supercruise, maneuverability
and integrated avionics, coupled with improved supportability represents an exponential leap in warfighting capabilities. The F22 is designed to project air dominance
rapidly and at great distances to defeat threats. The F22
cannot be matched by any known or projected fighter
Cover Photo
Two F22 Raptors during the 2008 Northern Edge 2008
An F22 Raptor shoots a flare during a training exercise over Kadena Air Base
Japan. The 27th Fighter Squadron aircraft is deployed from Langley AFB, VA.
Source: www.af.mil
Co-Editors: Mark Wright / Glenn Willey
Contributors to this issue:
Tap Kartiala - Executive VP message and Toys for Troops
Ron Norris and Bill Thacker —Super Science Saturday
Heidi Rigert and Ceilidh Roughton - FIRST LEGO Competition
Ken McKinney - Team America Rocketry Challenge
Come to our monthly General Membership meetings. Get involved!