Ex-Valley student returns to promote robotics

By Emily Sorensen

She may have moved on from Valley Elementary, but 15-year-old Alyssa Vallese hasn’t forgotten her old elementary school.

Vallese, now a sophomore at Francis Parker School, recently returned to her old school to give a robotics demonstration to the new generation of students at Valley Elementary School’s Family Science Night.

Vallese and her robotics team, the WARLords (We Are Robot Lords) from Francis Parker, visited Valley Elementary on Friday, Nov. 8 for a special demonstration on robotics and the importance of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects in education.

The WARLords brought their 2013 regional winning robot, Sun Tzu, that competed in the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Organization’s worldwide competition. “[The FIRST] organization is very big in giving back to the community, and spreading the word of STEM,” said Vallese.

It was her mother, Joann, who asked Vallese if her team would be willing to give a demonstration at Valley. “I said I’d organize it,” said Vallese. “I was super excited because it was my old elementary school.” The idea originally came up in May, but Vallese had to wait to begin work on organizing the event until the new school year started, and has been working on the demonstration since late September.

An estimated 60 to 70 Valley students attended the demonstration, where they first received an introduction in both English and Spanish, then split between four stations, where they learned about through four hands-on, interactive stations which included: electronics and wiring, design and build, pneumatics and air pressure, and computer programing, complete with small robots or robotics parts for the kids to see and use.

Finally, the WARLords did a demonstration with their 120-pound competition robot, Sun Tzu, having it fire frisbees for the kids to catch.

“I’ve volunteered a lot of Valley Elementary in the past, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen the kids that excited,” said Vallese. “They were all very involved and asking a lot of questions. I’d love to do it again.”

Vallese joined the robotics team her freshman year at a friend’s urging. “I said I’d give an hour to it. Then a day, then a week,” said Vallese. “It’s the type of thing that hooks you and doesn’t let you go.”