Filed under: Gunn Robotics
Driving a robot capable of shooting basketballs into hoops, Gunn High School's Robotics Team placed first overall in a recent national competition. Twelve members of Gunn's 55-member Robotics Team took their robot to Baltimore, Md., March 9 and 10, where they competed against 63 other teams from around the United States in the Chesapeake Regional competition associated with FIRST Robotics (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). In addition to the overall win, the Gunn team also won in the categories of "engineering excellence" and "safety." The win means the Gunn team's $5,000 entry fee to upcoming FIRST World Championship competition will be waived. That contest is scheduled for April 25-28 in St. Louis, Mo. Created entirely by students, Gunn's robot is capable of shooting basketballs into hoops of varying heights and balancing on a small bridge, Adams said. Gunn team members who went to Baltimore, accompanied by parent volunteer Debbie Sutherland, were Gray Adams, Brendan Caporaletti, Andrew Chen, Delia Gratta, Tony Jin, Joseph Milia, Philippe Napaa, Meera Parat, Gregg Ratanaphanyarat, Jeffrey Sun, Alexander Sutherland and Keshav Varma, Adams said. The students work under the direction of Gunn science teacher Bill Dunbar, who was not available to make the trip, Adams said.
Tis the Season of Giving!
Buy tickets to support GRT and receive the gift of laughter...
Sunday, December 12, 2010: THE CAPITOL STEPS (a political satire group from Washington DC) are coming to Gunn High School, Palo Alto. Tickets are selling FAST!
– “We put the ‘mock’ in democracy”.
–”They’re the best. There’s no one like them, no one in their league” – Larry King, CNN.
 The Capitol Steps charm audiences on both sides of the aisle with their unique brand of political humor set to popular music. While the Capitol Steps are renowned for poking fun at occupants of the White House, no one is safe from their satirical barbs, from Democrats to Republicans and from Congress to the Supreme court.
The Capitol Steps have recorded over 30 albums and been featured on NBC, CBS, ABC, PBS, and NPR. Their performances are always fresh and right from the headlines.
This is the 4th Annual fundraiser for the award-winning Gunn Robotics team, which was recently a recipient of Google RISE (Roots in Science and Engineering) Award.*
Two shows: 4pm and 7pm, in Spangenberg Theater, Gunn High School, 780 Arastradero Rd, Palo Alto, CA 94304
Ticket prices:
- $50 for the front center section (first 13 rows)
- $45 for the front side section,
- $35 for the unreserved rear section (rows 14-25).
As this is a benefit for the Gunn Robotics Team, the cost of the tickets over $20 is a tax-deductible donation.
To order tickets:
- TicketWeb - Type Capitol Steps in the Enter artist or venue box of ticketweb home page.
More information on Capitol Steps at www.capsteps.com
More information on the event: email grt192capitolsteps@gmail.com
* Google RISE awards are designed to promote and support science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) and computer science (CS) education initiatives and enrichment programs.
You are invited to 4th Annual Fundraiser for the Gunn High School Robotics Team
Sunday, December 12, 2010: THE CAPITOL STEPS (a political satire group from Washington DC) are coming to Gunn High School, Palo Alto. Tickets are selling FAST!
– “We put the ‘mock’ in democracy”.
–”They’re the best. There’s no one like the, no one in their league” – Larry King, CNN.
The Capitol Steps charm audiences on both sides of the aisle with their unique brand of political humor set to popular music. While the Capitol Steps are renowned for poking fun at occupants of the White House, no one is safe from their satirical barbs, from Democrats to Republicans and from Congress to the Supreme court.
The Capitol Steps have recorded over 30 albums and been featured on NBC, CBS, ABC, PBS, and NPR. Their performances are always fresh and right from the headlines.
This is the 4th Annual fundraiser for the award-winning Gunn Robotics team, which was recently a recipient of Google RISE (Roots in Science and Engineering) Award.*
Two shows: 4pm and 7pm, in Spangenberg Theater, Gunn High School, 780 Arastradero Rd, Palo Alto, CA 94304
Ticket prices:
- $50 for the front center section (first 13 rows)
- $45 for the front side section,
- $35 for the unreserved rear section (rows 14-25).
As this is a benefit for the Gunn Robotics Team, the cost of the tickets over $20 is a tax-deductible donation.
To order tickets:
- TicketWeb - Type Capitol Steps in the Enter artist or venue box of ticketweb home page.
More information on Capitol Steps at www.capsteps.com
More information on the event: email grt192capitolsteps@gmail.com
* Google RISE awards are designed to promote and support science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) and computer science (CS) education initiatives and enrichment programs.
Tonight we stopped at Barron Elementary to see Gunn Robotics Team's Haunted House. Unfortunately, I did not have any better camera than my phone... There construction and paint job was really nice, lighting really made it really shine. The motion (all pneumatically powered) kept all kids and parents captivated. And the puffs of smoke coming out of the chimney were saved for a grand finile.
The event was also to support the fundraising effort by GRT. The team is hosting The Capitol Steps (a political satire group from DC) at Gunn on December 12th. To buy tickets follow this link to TicketWeb.
Gunn Robotics Team site is here.
Weston Healy, an Eagle Scout with a 4.17 grade-point-average, was about to complete his senior year at Gunn High School and looking forward to enrolling at Cornell University this fall.
All that was jeopardized last Thursday after the Gunn campus was thrown into an emergency "Code Red" lockdown, terrifying students and parents and resulting in Healy's arrest on charges of possessing a weapon on a school campus.
Today Healy, 18, is at home in Los Altos Hills, suspended from school, while his lawyer works with Gunn officials and the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office in hopes of ensuring Healy's plans for his future unfold as previously expected.
It was all an innocent mistake, according to Healy, his father and lawyer Eric Geffon of San Jose.
District Attorney's Office spokeswoman Amy Cornell said Healy's case is under review. A court clerk said an arraignment is scheduled tentatively for next Thursday, which is the day after Gunn's graduation ceremony.
The weapon in Healy's car the day of his arrest was an airsoft rifle, a recreational weapon that can be purchased for $50 to $300.
Unlike metal BBs from a BB gun, airsoft products shoot non-puncturing plastic BBs and are used in games similar to those played at the popular birthday-party venue Laser Quest in Mountain View.
The median price of Bay Area homes rose drastically over the past year. Palo Alto once again shows a strong demand for houses – multiple offers are not uncommon today. An especially high number of multiple offers are seen on sales in the under $1.5M price range, where inventory is relatively low and the highest number of buyers are competing for houses. Here are just two examples of recent local market activity:
- A house in the Barron Park area listed at $1.2M was sold with 18 offers at $1.375M with a full-cash, non-contingent offer and closed escrow in less than 14 days.
- A 100+ year fixer-upper in Professorville was listed at $1.125M and sold at a much higher price with 11 offers in less than a week.
We are quickly approaching the spring selling season. As of end of March, there were 44 pending sales in Palo Alto. If this is any indicator of things to come, we will see an increase in market activity with first-time buyers still driving the market. South Palo Alto accounted for 13 out of 27 Palo Alto March sales. Out of these 13 houses sold in South Palo Alto, 10 went at higher than asking price.
Article also contains year-over-year March and month-over-month data. Palo Alto median price is about 17% from March 2009. Looking forward to spring selling season!
When home prices, mortgage applications to buy homes and consumer confidence are ALL pointing upward, even the perpetual doomsayers on Wall Street have to admit: Housing in the U.S. looks like it's on a very positive track.
And that's where we are right now. The latest monthly Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index came in higher last week. Prices were up in 12 of the 20 major markets that Case Shiller monitors.
On a year-over-year basis, prices gained nine percent in San Francisco, six percent in San Diego, about four percent in metropolitan Dallas, Washington DC and Los Angeles, 2.6 percent in Denver and one and a half percent in Boston.
We see positive trend developing here in Palo Alto too. March median price is up 17% comparing with 2009 and month over month trend is also positive. Multiple offers are becoming common again. One of the home we know about was sold with 18 offers.
Palo Alto High sophomore swimming standout Jasmine Tosky made some serious waves during the Columbus Grand Prix that finished its three-day run on Saturday in Columbus, Ohio. Tosky won three events and placed in the top four of four others.
The talented Tosky capped her performance on Saturday night by winning the 100-meter free in the long course meet in a sizzling 55.60. She came back to set a pool record of 2:10.69, the 10th-fastest in the world this season, while winning the 200 fly. Tosky ran down Dagny Knutson in the back half before opening up a sizable lead.
Maddie Schaefer, who is a teammate of Tosky on Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics, was fifth in the 100 free (56.50).
On Friday, Tosky was third in the 400 IM in 4:46.96 and fourth in the 50 free in 26.27. Schaefer was third in the 50 free (26.06) and 10th in the 100 bck (1:04.84). Palo Alto High junior Sarah Liang was 11th in the 200 breast in 2:46.62 and 19th in the 400 IM.
On Thursday's opening night, Tosky won the women's 100-meter butterfly in 1:00.13 to qualify for the Summer Nationals. She also finished third in the 200 free (2:00.85) and took third in the 200 IM (2:17.08) while showing she's a serious candidate for future national and international meets.
Congratulations on outstanding performance!!!
Palo Alto may ask Stanford University to help the city build a new police building, fund new shuttle programs and fix up local roadways before it allows the school to vastly expand its hospital facilities, a new staff report shows.
These subsidies are among the items Palo Alto officials hope to persuade Stanford to provide as part of the "development agreement" the university needs to sign with the city before it can proceed with Project Renewal, its $3.5 billion effort to rebuild its hospitals.
The City Council Finance Committee is scheduled to discuss the status of negotiations at its Tuesday night meeting.
Stanford's proposal includes the demolition and replacement of the current Stanford Hospital and Clinics complex; renovation and expansion of the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital; new medical offices near Hoover Pavilion; and improvements to the School of Medicine. Altogether, the project would add about 1.3 million square feet of development to Palo Alto, making it one of the most ambitious developments in the city's history.
Today we went for a hike in Henry Coe State Park (http://www.coepark.org/). This park is just a bit over an hour travel from Palo Alto and what a hidden treasure!!! This time of the year is the time to visit. The temperatures are mild, wildflowers are blooming, creeks are running with water, lakes and ponds are full, wild life is everywhere - deer, wild turkeys, ducks, etc. We were able to see, and even take a picture, of a bobcat. If you decide to visit, keep in mind that terrain is steep and it is getting scorching hot during the summer.
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