About 1712 | People | History | Awards and Recognition |Team Calendar

In our initial FRC build season of 2005 Dawgma was focused on building a big robot with interested students. As a team, we received an enormous amount of help and support from Lower Merion administration, local FIRST teams 357 from Upper Darbey, PA and 341 from Wissahickon, PA. We were very fortunate to have the help of veteran friends from the area and from the far-reaches of the FIRST community as well.

After surviving our rookie year we began our 2nd year by learning from our robot design mistakes from the year before. We spent our pre-season time testing different materials with our chassis design, calculating gear ratios, and finding the best ways to support drive shafts. This was also the first year that our FVC/VEX team was in existence. Our team used the FVC program to broaden our population and as a vehicle to interest more people in robotics. The FRC/VEX team was rewarded for its strong efforts by becoming a centerpiece for a local television feature on the team and the LMHS program. This would be the first of many TV, web, and newspaper feature appearances. In FRC we earned our first design related award and traveled to the Championship Event for the first time. During the school year the Innovation & Invention robotics course came into existence as part of the Technology Education curriculum. At the end of the school year one
of our alumni, Ira Goldberg Class ‘07 completed the first FIRST related senior project at LMHS. Dawgma began sending its members to local FIRST events as volunteers. In 2007 team 1712’s first set of white papers also emerged on www.chiefdelphi.com.

Year three, we launched a full-blown outreach program that became known as Portable Inspiration, began  serving as the centerpiece for school workshops, public demos, and targeted work with special needs students. FTC/VEX grew to two teams and both were award winners. Several more student-initiated projects (incorporating FIRST’s ideals, robotics, and education) emerged as extension of team and a growing alumni  base became more involved in many supportive roles. Team mentors became keynote presenters and published authors on robotics education and related topics in both TEAP and ITEA journals . Our fall training  was more organized than ever for new members. FTC/VEX grew to two award-winning teams and the FRC team was rewarded for all of its efforts with a Regional Gracious Professionalism Award.

In year four (2008-09), Dawgma branched out and, after an extensive application process, was awarded a NASA grant to attend the Washington, DC FRC Regional to support rookies and also compete with some of the finest from around the nation. This year marked our first year with engineering mentors from Lockheed Martin who gave our  students valuable insight into the engineering profession, enhanced our autonomous capabilities (even in a year where we had a brand new control system) and took strides on behalf of the team to build a lasting partnership. As part of the larger technology and engineering club at LMHS, many of the FIRST ideals and practices had spread club wide - affecting the way our students do business in TSA and other STEM activities as well. The VEX team (formerly FVC/FTC) continued attracting new members and winning awards, training continued to improve, our outreach efforts through Portable Inspiration grew and were publicized by FIRST and TSA (Technology Student Association) on a national level. The end of the year saw four of our ten seniors complete team-related senior projects, with 8-10 going on to pursue STEM-related educations and all 10 looking forward to continued volunteer and outreach opportunities.

As year five for the team grows near, it’s clear Dawgma is a team that promotes and lives the FIRST ideals and provides a strong example of  what STEM coupled with a social conscience can do for individual students, a school, and an entire community.
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