An important aspect of both Westtown’s team and FIRST Robotics is service and community outreach. In addition to designing and building a robot each year, Westtown’s Team 1391, the Metal Moose, engages in service projects and outreach to promote STEM and to compete for the Impact Award, the most prestigious award in the FIRST robotics competition league. 

Over the years, this outreach has included running a TechGirlz workshop for girls in STEM; teaching LEGO robotics sessions at Camp Dreamcatcher; doing LEGO robotics and Kendal Crosslands communities; restarting and mentoring a FIRST LEGO League team at The School in Rose Valley; demonstrations at Westtown second graders’ Space Day, and much more. This year, they have been building a relationship with the  American Helicopter Museum & Education Center in West Chester, Pennsylvania. The American Helicopter Museum & Education Center staff reached out to Westtown’s team and invited them to do a robot demonstration on their annual family day. This demonstration was such a hit that the museum staff invited the team back to do another demonstration in their summer program. The Metal Moose then proposed a five-week LEGO robotics camp, which they began this past fall. Fifteen youngsters enrolled, and in their two-hour weekly sessions, Team 1391 taught students how to build, program, test, and demonstrate mini robots, and to learn the principles of teamwork. They worked with FIRST LEGO League EV3 which uses LEGO Technic pieces. The camp was so impactful on the young students that a few reached out to Metal Moose team members to inquire about finding a FIRST LEGO team that they could join. 

The Metal Moose team members enjoy this added dimension to being on the robotics team. “All of the service and STEM outreach we’ve done as a team has been really inspiring to me,” shared Maitreyi Vadigepalli ’27. “Whenever we organize a demonstration, summer camp, or learning session, seeing the kids so excited is always heartwarming. I am always reminded of how excited I would be at these opportunities when I was younger! One thing I particularly like about our outreach work is how student-led it is. I used to attend the School in Rose Valley, and was on their FIRST LEGO League Challenge team for 4th and 5th grade. This team is what ultimately motivated me to pursue engineering in life. Now, as a member of the Metal Moose, I’ve been able to lead the re-establishment of this team by conducting robotics demos, mentoring the team, and attending their scrimmage. This initiative really felt like a full-circle moment for me, and it was really empowering.”

In February, the celebrations of Lunar New Year enlivened campus. In Lower and Middle Schools, students and teachers wore red, considered to be a lucky and joyous color that brings happiness and prosperity in many Asian cultures, and the lobbies were adorned in celebration. 

In the Upper School, the Lunar New Year Community Dinner was a spectacular event with delicious food, beautiful decorations, and lovely performances, which included a dramatic dragon dance, a traditional Chinese instrument performance, and Middle and Upper School Mandarin classes singing songs. A student performed “Bian Lian,” Chinese face changing, and other dances were shared before the community was invited to visit classrooms in the Main Hall where 18 different cultural stations had been set up. Guests were invited to attempt Chinese yoyo, have their palms read, and try their hands at calligraphy, among many other activities. It was a grand evening of shared food, traditions, and community. Our thanks to the Asian Student Association (ASA), International Student Organization (ISO), and teacher Bei Zhang for the amazing celebration! 

You can see more photos here and watch the ASA/ISO’s promo video here!

After a 4:oo a.m. departure from school on a cool October morning, the Environmental Science class arrived at the North Brigantine Natural Area at the Jersey Shore with the task of documenting shorebird species and doing clean-up. There were copious amounts of gnats, but still, a beautiful sunrise greeted the team and the students were quickly introduced to the reality of ecological fieldwork. Teacher Ryan Black shares, “They persevered and despite very low numbers along most of our three-mile survey, we were treated to a large abundance of shorebirds at the northern point. Approximately 20 endangered red knots, 198 American Oystercatchers (a New Jersey species of concern), and 220 Black-bellied Plovers were the highlight of the survey. The students helped count 1,657 shorebirds in total and identified nine different shorebird species after only seeing 50 sanderlings for the first three miles of our journey. It was a sight to behold! They removed 229 pieces of waste (mostly plastic debris) on the three-mile walk back.”