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Community Corner

School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc. Supports Half Hollow Hills Invitational Postseason Robotics Event

(Dix Hills, NY) — With school districts managing rising
costs and tighter budgets, important programs face cuts or elimination. School-Business Partnerships of Long Island,
Inc.
(SBPLI) is highlighting the importance of middle school and high school
robotics programs with its support of the Half Hollow Hills Invitational. The postseason robotics
competition is to be held in the gymnasium at Half Hollow
Hills High
School
West, 375
Wolf Hill Road
on
Saturday, November 16 from 9:00 a.m. to
5:00 p.m.





School
robotics programs immerse youngsters in the science of physics and the field of
engineering. They provide an enjoyable, engaging learning environment and they
enhance problem solving skills, cooperation and

teamwork.



The
Invitational is designed to showcase the benefits of robotics programs on
students, schools and their communities. Residents, teachers and administrators
from the Half Hollow Hills
School District and other Long Island school districts are invited to
attend.

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“The
competition is not just about the design and building of sophisticated robots.
These students also develop maturity, professionalism, teamwork and mentoring
skills that enrich their lives,” said Joani Madarash, Executive Director, SBPLI.
“Many of our students develop an affinity for their science and math courses,
and go on to study engineering, technology or science in

college.”





Participating teams will be using the robots they built
for the 2013 Long Island Regional FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of
Science and Technology) competition, which was held at Hofstra University in April. At the event,
students will program their robots, some weighing as much as 120 pounds, to
compete on a 27-by-54-foot playing field with pyramids, attempting to earn
points by shooting as many flying discs into their goals as possible during the
two-minute, 15-second match. Discs thrown into higher goals scores Alliances
more points. Matches will end with robots attempting to climb up pyramids
located near the middle of the field.

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The
following teams are scheduled to compete so far: Baldwin, Bay Shore, Central Islip, Center Moriches, Cold
Spring Harbor, Comsewogue, Connetquot, Gill St. Bernard’s School (Gladstone,
NJ), Great Neck South, Hauppauge, Half Hollow Hills, Hicksville, Island Trees,
Long Island City, Malverne, Miller Place, North Shore, Patchogue-Medford,
Plainview-Old Bethpage, Port Washington, Sachem North,
and
Seaford. Registration is still
ongoing.




“We also
would like to invite other potential rookie teams to join us, work with veteran
teams, and have the opportunity to drive a robot to give them a feel for the
program which they would not otherwise have,” Ms. Madarash

said.





For more
information on the Half Hollow Hills Invitational, or to find out how to
register a team for the competition, call Julian Aptowitz or Christian Mirchel
of Half
Hollow Hills High
School at (631) 592-3200. For more information about
SBPLI, visit www.sbpli.org.





###




About School-Business Partnerships of Long Island,
Inc.


School-Business Partnerships of Long
Island, Inc.
(SBPLI) was founded in 1984 by Fred Breithut with the goal of
developing partnerships between local high schools and businesses that would
provide students with practical experience and curriculum development, while
helping the business community develop its future workforce. Over 100
partnerships have been formed. In 1999, SBPLI brought the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of

Science and Technology) Robotics Competition to Long
Island, in which eight high school teams participated. Since then,
the Long Island Regional FIRST Robotics Competition has grown to
50 teams competing each year. SBPLI also hosts Long Island’s annual FIRST LEGO League Qualifying and

Championship Tournaments and the Junior FIRST LEGO League Expo, in which
approximately 1,000 elementary and middle school students from Nassau and Suffolk Counties take part each year. For more

information, visit www.sbpli.org



 



 


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