Pontiac
Central High School /Delphi Automotive Systems
FIRST
Robotics Team
1996-2006
Executive Summary
In
1997 Chief Delphi won the Chairman’s Award. We
think that our team came to win this award for our groundbreaking CADET
(Children Aspiring to Develop Engineering Talent ) Program, which initiates
children in elementary and middle
schools into the world of engineering. During
the administration of President Bill Clinton, Secretary of Education Richard
Riley made a special visit to Pontiac Central to acknowledge and celebrate
the accomplishments of this team. Chief Delphi has captured many awards and has been responsible for inspiring many schools to participate in FIRST.
According
to FIRST, Chief Delphi has initiated more other original offshoot programs
that have been emulated by other teams. Michigan
has approximately 70 teams— more FIRST teams than any other of the 50 states—primarily, according
to FIRST, because of Central/Delphi’s initiatives to recruit other
schools to the fun and excitement of the FIRST Program. In fact, in January when all of the teams
meet in New Hampshire to receive the game and rules for the year, Central/Delphi conducts an original
Rookie Camp, which instructs new teams about additional details that FIRST
does not cover in its orientation.
Because
of the impact of FIRST upon Pontiac Central High School, our city of Pontiac
Michigan, the State of Michigan and the nation, Chief Delphi plans to continue
our
pursuit of excellence and high standards of quality.
Special Programs
Since
being involved in FIRST, Chief Delphi has assumed a leadership role. Furthermore, it has been committed to spreading the message of
FIRST by developing special programs each year that enhance, not only its own
FIRST program, but also that of national FIRST. Some of these ongoing programs include:
Ø
National Chief Delphi Invitational
(CDI)—This is a robotics tournament
that Joe Johnson, Mike Aubry, and
Michael Martus of Central Delphi created in 1997. Through the years, this event has grown to become
international in scope. Teams come to Pontiac Central in November
to compete in a daylong original robotics competition where they race their
own machines that they construct from a specialized kit of parts.
Ø
Children Aspiring to Develop Engineering
Talent (CADET)—Central Coach Birta L. Allen created this program in 1997. It involves a version of FIRST designed for elementary
and middle school children. Today,
most of the 500 national teams have some sort of mentoring program for elementary
and middle school children that is modeled after the Central/Delphi CADET
Program. In fact, when the Lego League
was being considered for development, FIRST and the Lego Corporation President
Peter Eio consulted with Mrs. Allen
for implementation ideas. Today the
Lego League is a component of FIRST.
Ø
Rookie Camp—Each year at the National
FIRST Kick-Off , Central Delphi has presented the Rookie Camp. The
purpose of this program is to assist new teams in their development. Because
of the success of the event, FIRST has made our program an official element of
the Kick-Off. Delphi engineers and Pontiac Central coaches
develop and produce the Rookie Camp. As
a result of the responses from each year, Chief Delphi personally mentors other teams through the FIRST processes.
Ø
Web site—Chief Delphi team’s
web site (www.chiefdelphi.com) has brought together and moved the FIRST
community to a new level. Team leaders and
students from around the country gather daily and communicate via this forum
to exchange ideas and goodwill among teams. As
a leader in web technology, this web site is a tremendous resource for the
entire FIRST community. The site typically gets 40,000 “hits” daily during
the competition season.
Impact
Ø
95% of Chief Delphi’s graduating
seniors go on to college, most of them having some sort of scholarship as
a result of the FIRST program.
Ø
Former Central FIRST Team member Irving Liimatta, who graduated in 2000 from Worchester Polytechnic Institute in
engineering, is now an engineer at Delphi Automotive Systems. He
attended WPI on a scholarship that the FIRST Team earned. Irving returned to Chief Delphi in the role of engineer
and mentor to upcoming students.
Ø
Recently, Governor John Engler personally
requested that Chief Delphi come
to a conference in Lansing to demonstrate our robot and share our expertise
at a school-to-work conference.
Ø
Central/Delphi has assisted numerous schools that contact us for information
about replicating a FIRST program in their cities.
Milestones
Ø
One of the coaches, Michael Martus, serves on the National FIRST Leadership Advisory Board
Ø
Central/Delphi demonstrated our
program in Washington D.C. and assisted with the planning of the Inaugural
Congressional Invitational.
Ø
Corporations have offered Chief Delphi students lucrative scholarship offers
because of their involvement in the Central/Delphi FIRST Team. Our FIRST
coaches assist in arranging these opportunities.
Ø
Chief Delphi was featured on a 30 second commercial, which Coach
Birta L. Allen helped the National Education Association to produce. The
spot was featured for six months statewide on Michigan television. It
featured our students and the emphases upon math science, and technology
programs at Pontiac Central.
Ø
When Dean Kamen received the National Medal of Technology in 2000—the nation’s
highest honor for technology, presented by the President—he invited the Central
Delphi Team to come to Washington, DC to stand with him to represent the
FIRST Program. Coach Birta L. Allen
worked to secure gratis
tickets from Dr. Cheryl Shavers,
the Undersecretary of Commerce for Technology, to the celebration dinner in Washington DC. Because of these efforts, two coaches and one
engineer were able to attend the event to represent Central/Delphi.
Ø
Governor John Engler included the Central/Delphi FIRST Team in a publication
that he prepared for President Bill Clinton. Chief Delphi was included because of our contributions to Michigan’s School-To-Work
initiative. The book will become
part of the Clinton Presidential Library.
Ø
The National School Boards of America (NSBA) has honored us twice in six
years as an
exemplary
educational program. The first
time was in 1999 as part of its national conference in New Orleans, Louisiana
and in 2001 with a site visit to Michigan to tour our facility in Pontiac
Central High School. In 2001 Pontiac
Central High School and the Central Delphi Team was selected to host the
NSBA on a site visit. We are honored
to have been chosen to demonstrate our robotics program on April
26, 2001.
1996-2006 Honors, Awards
and Commendations
A
partial listing of the entities that have given Chief Delphi awards include: Pontiac Schools, The City of Pontiac, Oakland Community College,
Fujitsu Corporation, Johnson & Johnson Daimler Chrysler, Honeywell
Corporation, Motorola Corporation, President
Bill Clinton, Secretary of Education Richard Riley Senator Spencer Abraham,
Senator Carl Levin, Congressman Dale Kildee, State Representative Hubert
Price, State Senator Gary Peters, Governor John Engler, FIRST Founder Dean
Kamen, Michigan Education Association, National Education Association,
Southeast Association of Design Engineers, Design News, the Oakland Press,
and combined session of Michigan
House and Senate and many more.
1996 Competitive Season
·
FIRST National Competition Orlando, Florida
Rookie All-Stars Award:
Inaugural
WPI Scholarship Award ($68,000) Worchester, Massachusetts
· FIRST
DEKA New England Competition Manchester, New Hampshire
Rookie
All-Start Award
· Society
of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Detroit, Michigan
Outstanding
Engineer of the Year Award: (Dr. Joseph Johnson, Design Engineer, Delphi
Interior and Lighting
· North
Oakland County NAACP Pontiac,
Michigan
Distinguished
Leadership Award: (Dr. Willie B. Aldridge, Principal, Pontiac Central High
School)
Commendations
· Pontiac
Board of Education, Grant Mason, President
· Dr.
Sam F. Abram, Superintendent of Schools
· City
of Pontiac, Mayor Walter Moore
1997
Competitive Season
Awards
· FIRST
National Competition Orlando, FL
Chairman’s
Award (Grand Award)
Silver
Medal Finalist Award
Inaugural
Daniel Webster Scholarship Award Boston, Massachusetts
$30,000
Johnson & Johnson
“Buzz Team Award”
· FIRST
DEKA New England Competition Manchester, New Hampshire
Judges’
Award
· FIRST
Johnson & Johnson Mid-Atlantic Competition New Brunswick, New Jersey
Top
Seed Award
Commendations
· Pontiac Board of Education, Brenda
Causey Mitchell, President
· Dr.
Sam F. Abram, Superintendent of Schools
· City
of Pontiac, Mayor Walter Moore
· Pontiac
City Council, Elick Shorter, President
· Delphi
Automotive Systems, J.T. Battenberg, President
· Farr
Automotive Group, Mel Farr, President
· Oakland
County, Commissioner JoAnne Holbert
· State
of Michigan, Representative Hubert Price
· State
of Michigan, Senator Gary Peters
· State
of Michigan, Governor John Engler
· Congress
of the United States, Representative Dale Kildee
· Senate
of the United States, Senator Carl Levin
· Senate
of the United States, Senator Spencer Abraham
· The
White House, President Bill Clinton
1998
Competitive Season
Awards
·FIRST
Great Lakes Regional Eastern
Michigan University Ypsilanti,
Michigan
First
Place Gold Medal Award:
Pontiac
Northern Power train Most Helpful Team Award
International
Academy Appreciation Award
·FIRST New England Competition Gold Medal Award: Manchester,
New Hampshire
FIRST
DEKA New England Competition Top Seed Award
·FIRST
Southwest Competition Gold Medal Award: Houston,
TX
FIRST
Southwest Com [petition Top Seed Award
FIRST
Southwest Competition Design Engineering Award
·Oakland
County Urban League Leadership Awards:
(Dr.
Barbara Sanders, Director of Engineering-Advanced Development, Delphi-I;
Dr. Willie B. Aldridge, Principal, Pontiac Central High School; Dr. Joseph
Johnson, Design Engineer, Delphi-I and Pontiac Central High School FIRST
Coaches: Birta L. Allen, Academic
Liaison; Michael Martus, Vocational Education Department Chair; Michael
McIntyre, Physics Instructor; Lorene Phillips, English Department Chair;
Robert Rich, Mathematics Instructor; and Arthur Williams, Student Advocate)
Pontiac, MI
·National
School Boards Association (NSBA) Award: New
Orleans, Louisiana
·Michigan
Net Day Selection AWARD, Lansing, Michigan
·Design News Chicago,
Illinois
National
Innovation in Engineering Award
·National
Education Association/Michigan Education Association (NEA/MEA)
Saluting
Public Schools Award: (Commercial
aired in US and Canada) Lansing, Michigan
·MEA
Lansing, Michigan
Business & Industry
Award
·Chrysler
Corporation Auburn Hills, Michigan
Outstanding
Educator Award: (Michael Martus)
·Pontiac
PTSA Council Pontiac, Michigan
Secondary Teacher of the Year Award:
(1st time
to a group FIRST Coaches: Birta
L Allen, Michael Martus, Michael McIntyre, Lorene Phillips, Jamie Schutt,
Arthur Williams) Pontiac, Michigan
·Wal-Mart
Corporation National Teacher of the Year Award:
(1st time
to a group FIRST Coaches Birta L. Allen, Michael Martus, Michael McIntyre,
Lorene Phillips, Arthur Williams) Bentonville, Arkansas
·General
Motors Corporation Detroit,
Michigan
International
Founders’ Award
·Boston
Edison Rumble at the Rock Tournament: Boston,
Massachusetts
Judges
Award
·State
visit by Secretary of Education Richard Riley to honor out team
Commendations
Second Place Silver Trophy
Best
Offensive Robot Trophy
2001 Competitive Season
Awards
·National
Indiana Robotics Invitational Tournament. Kokomo, Indiana
Second
Place Silver Medal
·Delphi
Automotive Systems Golden Gear Award, J.T. Battenberg, President
·FIRST
Nationals, Orlando, Florida
Chairman’s
Award Finalist Trophy (Second Consecutive Year)
Fifth
Place (Silver Medal)
·FIRST
Great Lakes Regional, Ypsilanti, Michigan
Johnson & Johnson
Leadership in Controls Award
Fourth
Place
·FIRST
New York Regional, New York, New York
First
Place Gold
Medal Winner
Johnson & Johnson
Leadership in Controls Award
Daimler
Chrysler
Spirit Award
·FIRST
United Technologies Regional Hartford,
Connecticut
Judges
Award (Top award of the competition)
Fourth
Place
·National
Medal of Technology Student Conference Award Washington, DC
·Personal
Invitation by National Medal of Technology Winner, Dean Kamen
Commendations
·National Good
Morning America Recognition of Chief Delphi
·Governor
John Engler State of Michigan
Recognition of Leadership in State of Michigan
for Technology
·Pontiac
Board of Education, Richard Seay, President
Leadership
in Technology
·Mayor
Walter Moore, State of City Address
Recognition
of Leadership and Standing Ovation for Central /Delphi FIRST Team
2003
Competitive Season
Awards
·Kettering
Kick-Off, Kettering University, Flint, Michigan
Spirit
of the Competition Award
·
FIRST Buckeye Regional, Cleveland, Ohio
Entrepreneurial
Award
·FIRST
National Competition, Houston, Texas
Archimedes
Division
Silver
Medal
2004 Competitive Season
Awards
Summary
Pontiac
Central believes that FIRST has been a very successful educational incentive
for all of its students. Not only have students garnered scholarships, internships, and employment
as a result of their participation, but also they have expanded their horizons
for career goals and achievement. For over seven years, Chief Delphi has lead the way for many other
FIRST Teams across the nation, a fact that Dean Kamen has acknowledged on
various occasions.
At
the end of each year after coming through our training program, every student
team member is articulate enough to speak to media and respond to questions
about the FIRST Program. We function as a team and a
family. It is this special relationship that we develop among our team
members that makes our students exemplary.
Chief
Delphi is extremely proud of its many accomplishments. Moreover, the team chooses to continue to create dynamic
programs and scenarios that serve to improve student achievement, especially
in the math, science, and technology.
2005
Competitive Season
Awards
· FIRST Championship ( The name changed from Finals to Championship)
Atlanta, Georgia
Spirit of the Competition Award Hall
of Fame Recognition (Three Good Stars)
· FIRST Wayne State University Regional, Detroit, Michigan Regional
Woodie Flowers Award (Michael Martus)
· FIRST Western Michigan Regional, Grand Rapids, Michigan Spirit of
the Competition Award
· Kettering Kick Off, Flint, Michigan