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Shelton-Mason County Journal
Rotary, MACECOM scheduled to hold 9/11 gathering
The Shelton Rotary Club and Ma-
son County Emergency Communications
(MACECOM) are jointly sponsoring a Pa-
triot Day gathering on the 10-year anniver-
sary of the 9/11 attacks. The event will be
held this Sunday, Sept. 11, in the Walmart
parking lot.
Patriot Day 2011 is a community gather-
ing to recognize and remember the anniver-
sary of the tragic events ten years ago. A
further purpose is to honor and thank all
public servants working in our local commu-
nity for their ongoing dedication and com-
mitment to the citizens of Mason County.
Our desire is to be a unified community, liv-
ing and working together to embrace justice
with values and peace with hope.
MACECOM will have emergency servic-
es recognized with equipment and displays
beginning at 10 a.m. Shelton Rotary's pro-
gram will then begin at 2 p.m. Efforts are
under way to provide air shows, patriotic
music, a three-gun volley and many other
displays of patriotism. The Honorable Ben-
jamin Settle will be the keynote speaker.
In the United States, Patriot Day occurs
on September 11 of each year, designated
in memory of the 2,977 killed in the Sept.
11, 2001 attacks. Most Americans refer to
the day as "Nine-Eleven (9/11)," "September
Eleventh," or some variation thereof. Ini-
tially, the day was called the Prayer and Re-
membrance for the Victims of the Terrorist
Attacks on September 11, 2001. US House
of Representataves Joint Resolution 71 was
approved by a vote of 407-0 on October 25,
2001. It requested that the President desig-
nate September 11 of each year as "Patriot
Day." President George W. Bush signed the
resolution into law on December 18, 2001. It
is a discretionary day of remembrance. On
September 4, 2002, President Bush used his
authority created by the resolution and pro-
claimed Sept. 11, 2002 as Patriot Day.
On this day, the President directs that
the American flag be flown at halfstaff at
individual American homes, at the White
House and on all US Government buildings
and establishments, home and abroad. The
President also asks Americans to observe a
moment of silence beginning at 8:46 A.M.
(eastern daylight time) the time the first
plane struck the North Tower of the World
Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
The entire community is invited to at-
tend.
Guy Beaudoin demonstrates how to program the Lego robots "Nerdy and Proud" uses.
Journat DnOTOS b Natalie Johnsorl
Do the
ROBOT
Pioneer robotics team
competing in challenge
By NATALIE JOHNSON
Most middle school students are preoccu-
pied with sports, video games or even Justin
Bieber.
However, a group of Pioneer intermedi-
ate and middle school students have formed,
with the help of coaches Dan Beaudoin and
Jonathan Seil, the Pioneer First Robotics
group, who have named themselves "Nerdy
and Proud."
"We're pretty much all nerds," said Guy
Beaudoin, a team member and Dan Beau-
doin's son.
For the next six weeks, the/ll be getting
ready to compete against approximately
10,000 teams in the international First Lego
League (FLL) 2011 Food Factor Challenge.
"One of the things that's lacking at Pio-
neer is after-school activities," Dan Beau:
doin said. "I see robotics as being the next
big thing to take off."
Last school year, Dan Beaudoin and Sell,
a physicist and former Boeing employee,
formed the group with about 10 students.
"I noticed that there was nothing going on
in Mason County," Dan Beaudoin said. "It's
set up so it can take place in any age group."
Several weeks ago the team received a
preliminary set of instructions allowing
them to set up a table and set of obstacles
for their robots to manipulate. However, it
wasn't until midnight last Thursday that
the group received their "mission."
"Nerdy and Proud" team member Charles Seil works on
a robot.
.............. ii!ii#`!;;i.i:;;;:i:1:#i;!!i!i!;i!ii!ii!i!iJ;!;@i)Jii:
i i!ili!ii!ili00i0000iiii!i
i!iii:iii) ,i!!;;;:::::;!:i!i .................................. :;i
Nerdy and Proud, which is sponsored by
Pioneer Kiwanis, will focus for the next six
weeks on learning how to do the missions
they have been assigned. According to the
FLL Challenge website, the team will have
to send their Lego robot through missions
on their table, navigating obstacles and ma-
nipulating tools, to learn about keeping food
safe from contamination.
In October the team will travel to the
state competition in Seattle to compete
head-to,head against other FLL challenge
teams from across Washington. To their
knowledge, Nerdy and Proud is the only
team from Mason County.
While Nerdy and Proud members are,
safe to say, proud of their nerdiness, they
said there is room for more than just robot
nerds in the group.
Each team in the competition is scored on
several criteria, including their robot's abil-
ity to complete missions, teamwork and at-
titude and a presentation on the subject of
the challenge "keeping food safe."
Josie Beaudoin said she isn't really inter-
ested in robots, but wanted to help.
"I'm part of the design team. I do T-shirts
and other stuff," she said.
She also designed the team's website.
Most members of the team were new to
robots before they began getting involved
with the Lego challenge early this year.
"I haven't really gotten into robotics be-
fore," Guy Beaudoin said. "I think it's awe-
some - it teaches me programming and a lot
of other things."
The robots, all manufactured by Lego,
come with software designed to let children
and teens easily program their robots to per-
form a multitude of tasks.
While the project is intended to lead stu-
dents toward careers m science, Dan Beau-
doin said that it also strongly encourages
teamwork and gets them away fom video
games, if only for a few hours.
"It's beyond playing games on the com-
puter," he said. "It teaches you physics,
math, engineering ... it s a real game.
For more information on Nerdy and Proud
go to pioneerfirstrobotics@blogspot.com.
For more information on the FLL
Challenge, visit firstlegoleague.org/
challenge/2011foodfactor.
Thursday, September 8. 2011
HICC guest
speaker will
from Mason
be
County Parks
Judy and I just spent the Labor Day
weekend up in Packwood. They have a
twice-a-year, all-city garage sale. Every
inch of Packwood was packed with ven-
dors and in between those inches were
shoppers. Traffic was backed up at least
seven miles trying to get into town. I know
it's seven miles because that is where my
cousin lives and where we were camping.
I was a little curious about Labor
Day's origin, so this is what I found on
Wikipedia. The Central Labor Union of
New York observed the first big Labor
Day in the United States on Sept. 5,
1882. Peter McGire of the American Fed-
eration of Labor first proposed it in May
1882. Oregon was the first state to make
it a hOliday i:n 1887.-By the img it became
a federal holiday in 1894, 30 states of-
ficially celebrated Labor Day. Following
the deaths of a number of workers at the
hands of the U.S. militm3r and U.S. Mar-
shals during the Pullman Strike, Presi-
dent Grover Cleveland reconciled with the
labor movement. Fearing thrther conflict,
legislation making Labor Day a national
holiday was rushed through Congress
unanimously and signed into law a mere
six days aider the end of the strike.
Still speaking of labor, those volun-
teers for the senior lunch sure work
hard. They served a wonderful lunch of
baked chicken. The next lunch will be
on Sept. 21.They will have beef stew.
biscuits, pickled beets, pickles and fresh
..... apple cake. If you want
to join this crowd, they
open the doors at noon.
but get there a little
early and visit. All
over 50 and guests are
welcome and they only
want a $3 donation
what a deal and what
a way to keep our corn-
MIKE munity close.
CALLAGHAN Ken and Sandy
..... .... Kramer have been la-
boring away arranging
the programs for the HICC. This month's
meeting will be Friday, Sept. 9. The pro-
gram subject will be on our Mason County
Parks. John Keates, Mason County Parks
and Trails director, will give an overview
of the many and varied properties that fall
under the county parks department. Ken
is excited about the program because as a
newbie to the area, he is particularly in-
terested in these public recreation oppor-
tunities that are spreading throughout the
county. He and Sandy are still in learn-
ing mode of all the fun places to recreate
in this beautifully wooded and watered
county. The meeting doors open around 6
p.m. with the potluck dinner starting at
6:30 p.m. and the speaker program start-
ing around 7 p.m.
Our local Pioneer Kiwanis just served
up some hamburgers to all the returning
teachers at Pioneer. Then, the school's Ro-
botics Club that Kiwanis partially spon-
sors has already made news for their
success in the elevator to space contest.
Last Wednesday's Kiwanis speaker was
Lt. Commander Donald Davis. Don talked
to the club about the early days of the
SEALs. His significant duty assignments
included selection as the team corps-
man on the first U.S. Navy SEAL team
deployed to Vietnam, comptroller of the
Naval Hospital in Beaufort S.C., Assistant
Comptroller of the National Naval Medical
Center and comptroller for the Navy Re-
gional Medical Center in Great Lakes, Ill.
- Shelton-Mason County Journal- Page B-1