The CocoNuts Robotics Website by Vitas Zukowski is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution - Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Origins
The CocoNuts Robotics Team, based out of Coconino High School (CHS) in Flagstaff, Arizona, is the first and only high school robotics team of its kind in Northern Arizona. The CocoNuts were founded in 2007 by David Thompson, a professor of physics at Northern Arizona University, and a master teacher for the NAU Teach Program, and Christine Sapio, a CHS AP Physics teacher and the head of the Coconino Institute of Technology (CIT) accelerated science and engineering program at CHS.
Clarification: While many of the members of the CocoNuts are also concurrently enrolled in the Coconino Institute of Technology magnet program (CIT) at CHS, the CocoNuts and CIT are separate programs, and enrollment in CIT is NOT a prerequisite for joining the CocoNuts, and participation on the CocoNuts is NOT part of any CIT class or curriculum.
The 2007-08 School Year
The first competition that the CocoNuts competed in was the 2007 FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) Arizona Championship (after a whirlwind 13-day build period!) At this event they were able to wow the judges with their sales spiel. At the end of the qualifying matches, the CocoNuts were in 2nd place, which allowed them to advance to the semi-finals. At the end of the event, they were awarded the prestigious "FTC Inspire Award". As a Rookie Team this was a huge accomplishment! With this award they qualified to attend the 2008 FIRST World Championship Competition for FTC in Atlanta, Georgia.
At the 2008 FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Arizona Regional the CocoNuts' robot, RoboDawg, performed exceptionally well. They came within one team of participating in the finals! They were awarded a special "FRC Judges Award" at the end of the Arizona FRC Regional, which was a real honor for their inaugural FRC event! The CocoNuts' participation in both the 2007 FTC and the 2008 FRC events was made possible by a generous grant to their team from the Arizona Science Foundation.
The 2008-09 School Year
At the beginning of the school year, the CocoNuts decided to branch out from simply inspiring themselves to be engineers. In 2008 the local Flagstaff Unified School District and the "Flagstaff 40", the top 40 businesses in Flagstaff, were looking for a program to serve as a K-12 STEM Initiative to increase the competitiveness and success of Flagstaff students in the fields of:
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.
The CocoNuts presented the idea of using the FIRST Lego League program in local elementary and middle schools to the FUSD School Board. In addition they outlined a comprehensive plan for a K-12 STEM experience through FIRST via providing opportunities to all FUSD students to be able to participate in the successive levels of FLL, FTC, and FRC. All the FUSD school board members and especially the superintendent were impressed, and decided overwhelmingly to fund FLL programs throughout Flagstaff public schools. In a whirlwind period of only several months, the CocoNuts started and mentored sixteen new FLL teams in Flagstaff: the very first establishment of FLL in Flagstaff. This growth was the largest ever seen in one year in a single area in the international history of FLL. In fact, the amount of new teams merited the creation of the very first Northern Arizona FLL Regional Tournament. The CocoNuts did, and still to this day, graciously organize and host the tournament, infecting all twenty-one participating FLL teams with their contagious enthusiasm.
After having occupied themselves with spreading FLL to Northern Arizona, the CocoNuts competed again at the 2008 FTC Arizona Championship. While programming troubles did not allow the CocoNuts' robot "Steve" to move until the end of the competition, they nonetheless had an enlightening learning experience which showed their freshman members the true excitement of FIRST.
Afterward the CocoNuts competed at the 2009 San Diego and Arizona FRC Regionals. At the San Diego FRC Regional their robot "Astra" made it into the finals of the competition! And while "Astra" was unable to make it into the finals at the Arizona FRC Regional, the CocoNuts were able to win not only the "FRC Website Award" for the best website, but they were able to win the most prestigious award given at any FRC Regional, the "FRC Chairman's Award". This award is held higher in prestige than winning the physical competition, and qualified the CocoNuts for the 2009 FIRST World Championships for FRC in Atlanta, Georgia. The CocoNuts are only the second team from Arizona to ever win this award, and one of the only teams internationally to ever win this award as only a second year team.
With Chairman's Award in hand, the CocoNuts competed at the 2009 FIRST FRC World Championships in Atlanta, Georgia, at the Georgia Dome. They wowed both judges and other teams alike, who could not believe from the CocoNuts' enthusiasm and accomplishments that they were only a second year team. The CocoNuts also managed to perform much better on the field with their robot, tie'ing with 21 other teams for 24th place out of 88 in the Archimedes Division. All in all, it was an extremely inspirational learning experience for the CocoNuts.
The 2009-10 School Year
After their second season, towards the end of the school year, the CocoNuts were contacted by Northern Arizona University (NAU). Apparently the NAU Summer Enrichment Program, which provides disadvantaged middle school students with a taste of a college experience, had lost one of their biggest partners---the Flagstaff-based United States Geological Survey - Astrogeology Division. NAU came to the CocoNuts asking them to take the place of the USGS in creating and teaching a Mars-based curriculum as the keystone of the NAU SEP "Spirit & Opportunity" (Mars Rovers) track. The problem was that both the CocoNuts' coaches were going to be out of town for the duration of the NAU SEP.
But this turned out to be no obstacle. The CocoNuts independently created and taught a Mars-based curriculum using Lego NXT Mindstorms kits and donated past years' FLL mats. Throughout the summer, the CocoNuts taught three groups of students to build and program these robots in a collegiate setting, without adult guidance. The students that the CocoNuts taught left NAU SEP with an increased self-confidence, an inspiration to pursue math and science, and, of course, an urge to participate in FLL in their respective hometowns.
Towards the end of NAU SEP, the CocoNuts received yet another offer: "Could the CocoNuts become the affiliate partner for the Arizona FIRST Tech Challenge?" Enthusiastically, the CocoNuts agreed. So the CocoNuts did not field an FTC team in 2009, but instead they hosted the Arizona State FTC Championship themselves.
On the FLL side, later in 2009, the Flagstaff Unified School District was forced to cut all funding for it's STEM Initiative due to severe state educational budget cuts, which had funded both the CocoNuts and the vast majority of Flagstaff FLL teams the previous year.
But nonetheless, this obstacle was overcome by the CocoNuts, who were able to not only maintain both themselves and their FLL teams, but continue the expansion of FLL in Northern Arizona by adding ten teams for a total of twenty-six Flagstaff teams to the Northern Arizona FLL Regional Tournament. The CocoNuts accomplished this by diversifying funding sources, assisting public schools to maintain their previous teams, and starting teams at charter and private schools, in addition to starting community teams focused on home-school students.
Because of the fact that the CocoNuts were hosting two different competitions, the Arizona State FTC Championship and the Northern Arizona FLL Regional Tournament, in December, the CocoNuts decided to combine them into something that not only increased the excitement of each but that was truly unique to Flagstaff, so....
The High Altitude Robotics Extravaganza (HARE) was born!HARE places both the Northern Arizona FLL Regional Tournament and the Arizona State FTC Championship competitions on the same date at the same time at the same place (Coconino High School) so that FLL teams can be inspired by seeing what they become part of in high school, and so that FTC teams are pushed to join in with the enthusiasm and energy of their younger peers.
After the madness of hosting both FLL and FTC, the CocoNuts went through their own personal bout of craziness in January with the 2010 FRC Build Season. After completing and shipping their robot, the CocoNuts, in March, competed at the 2010 Arizona FRC Regional in Phoenix, Arizona, where they won not only the FRC Engineering Inspiration Award, but team member Tomas Zukowski garnered one of the two first-ever Arizona Dean's List Finalist Awards.
Having qualified with the FRC Engineering Inspiration Award, the CocoNuts once again competed in Atlanta at the 2010 FIRST FRC World Championship. While the CocoNuts did not receive any accolades in Atlanta, they made many friends, impressed judges, and had a truly awesome time.
The 2009-10 School Year
The CocoNuts once again taught the NAU Summer Enrichment Program. One team member through her experience teaching the program in the Summer of 2009 was actually offered a job by NAU to be a paid teacher for the duration of the program.
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