Team 1717 Concludes Build Season!

On Tuesday afternoon at 3:30PM, Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy’s (DPEA) Team 1717 completed their six week build season by packing a 5 foot tall black and gold robot into a wooden crate and shipping it off via FedEx to the site of their first competition. Since January 8th, Team 1717 (also known as the D’Penguineers) has been designing and fabricating a robot that will compete in this year’s FIRST Robotics Challenge: Logomotion.

After school, on weekends, rain or shine, students and mentors of Team 1717 stayed late into the evening and often into the early mornings to work on various components for the robot. During the season, the team spent its time brainstorming, prototyping, researching different products and mechanisms, designing, machining, and programming. As it is every year, Team 1717 is comprised entirely of seniors in the DPEA who have never competed in the FIRST Robotics Challenge. In only a few short weeks, the group of rookie seniors gained valuable new skills and experience through this intensive project, and also a new understanding of what they are capable of achieving.

The D’Penguineers now have only two weeks left until their first regional competition–time that will be spent refining the few extra mechanisms that FIRST teams are allowed to install on their robots at the competition, practicing driving the robot, and resting. With the March 1st release of The New Cool by Neal Bascomb (a book detailing the experiences of several FIRST teams, focusing on Team 1717 and their accomplishments) and its first regional in San Diego on March 12th, the DPEA is looking forward to an action-packed month of competitions.

Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy:

Dos Pueblos High School (DPHS), in collaboration with Santa Barbara County Education Office Regional Occupation Program (ROP), determined that our community would benefit from the presence of an engineering program designed for students at the secondary level. The DPEA offered its initial course during the 2002-2003 academic school year with the introduction of Engineering 1 and Computer Science 1. During the 2005-2006 school year, the capstone senior-level ROP Robotics course was added, supported by the Santa Barbara County Education Office .The Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy has a broad base of community support, including UCSB, Santa Barbara City College, and local industry partners. The DPEA is a public school program, operating on campus at Dos Pueblos High School. Dos Pueblos High School is located at 7266 Alameda, Goleta, CA. http://www.dpengineering.org

The DPEA Foundation:

The DPEA Foundation was established by Engineering Academy parents in Fall 2007 to support the Engineering Academy and run the Capital Campaign to raise funds for a new facility. The DPEA Foundation mission is to enhance the quality of the DPEA learning experience and to facilitate the growth of the Academy. For more information on the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy Foundation, please see www.dpeaf.org

Two years ago, Mr. Abo-Shaeer, the DPEA Director and Head Instructor, applied for and was awarded a $3 million state grant to expand the academy. To date, the Capital Campaign to raise $3 million to match the grant has secured $2,500,000.The Gearing Up! Capital Campaign will raise the remaining $500,000 to purchase state-of-the-art machinery and equipment for the laboratories and machine shops: http://www.dpeaf.org/gearingup.php