We Were on the Air This Morning!

We Heart Robots

Before the Match

At the World Championships each team in our division played 10 qualifying matches. I tried to snap a picture of each driving team before they went into the arena. Here are some of our drive teams:

KUNM Children's Hour

Tune in to KUNM this Saturday morning to hear some of The Syntax Errors talk about World's and robotics on KUNM's Children's Hour! The show runs from 9-10 and more info about the program can be found here.

The Beach!

Although "begin at the beginning" has it's merits, I'm going to start documenting our Anaheim adventures with the end. These pics of this landlocked team at the Pacific Ocean just couldn't wait. We had a such a joyous time after the competition playing in the waves, finding treasures and participating in the local Earth Day activities. Rather than fight the crowds at Huntington Pier, we went up the coast a bit to the Bolsa Chica State Park.

This crab was enormous!

Sushi, anyone?

Gorgeous!

Outside the lifeguard tower the park rangers were working in conjunction with a local non-profit to create an Earth Day tile mural to be placed in one of the Bolsa Chica buildings. The Syntax Errors participated by making their own tiles.

The trip

The trip was wonderful! the robot did grate. there was allot of fun things to do at the stadium! I had a fun time! Elijah

Congrats to the team

We finished strong with excellent teamwork and defense coming in 64 in our division! Congrats team! Here we are celebrating with a beloved mascot.

2013-2014 Season NEW GAME REVEALED

Tonight the next season's game was revealed and it all has our minds racing with design and strategy ideas. We see some pneumatics in our future....

A Whirlwind

To All the Syntax Errors Fans,

So much has happened over the last two days and I realize that our last published post was yesterday at the opening ceremony. Two posts are still trying to publish from Ms. Amy's phone and there is not any Wifi in the convention center (apparently it interferes with the performance of the 'bots).

Suffice it to say, many postings are yet to come. We miss everyone and can feel your love and support from where ever you may be!

~The Syntax Errors

Opening Ceremony

Our view from our seats at the opening ceremony. This is amazing. Over 24 countries and 700 teams are here.

Disneyland

Yesterday we went to Disneyland and California adventure it was very fun we went on many rides it was a fun experience. I went on a ride called splash mountain it was very fun.

Union station

Leg 1 of our journey is complete! Now we wait for our train to Anaheim...

On the train

Here we are riding the rails!

Basking in the Glow

If it seems too quiet here at the blog, that's because we've taken a short hiatus while we basked in the glow of REACHING OUR INITIAL FUNDRAISING GOAL!!

To date we have raised $11,400 which will go to sending our team to Anaheim in less than a week. We could not have done it without all of the funds donated through this blog. Thank you.

If you are visiting us for the first time and are interested in donating, please do! Any funds which are not spent on our trip will go towards building our program next year. This year's program was started entirely with grant money which will not be available next year. I have a feeling that our numbers will swell given the success in our first year and would be great to have the resources to support the students.

While we are in Ahaheim we will blog daily, so stay tuned April 17-21 as we take on the World Championship!

~The Syntax Errors

Leaders of the 'tax

At next week's world championships our team needs to people to represent us. The first is our team captain and the second is a team member who will march in the parade in the opening ceremony. This person will represent our team, New Mexico and part of the US contingency. Last week Aidan G. was selected to be our team captain. He is pictured at the right below. Jack (center) will be our parade rep. Sophie (left) rounds out this driving/coaching team.

Congratulations Aidan and Jack!

Here they are in action at today's practice! 

Warm Fuzzies

Last night the Mountain Mahogany Community School shone with their support for our students and our fundraising efforts. Photos will be posted later, but we wanted to be sure we thanked everyone for helping us raise over $1500!

A huge thank you to Mr. Seth for organizing the entertainment, Debra for getting the food piece in order, Cathy for getting the word out through the Leaflet, Brian and Alex for staffing the 'bot drives, Socorro for handling the money, the Syntax Errors for representing the team and to everyone else who supported the event. We are oh so grateful!

The official fundraising tally will be posted this weekend--check back tosee if we met our goal!

~The Syntax Errors

Fundraising Update

To the fans of the Syntax Errors:

We have broken the $6000 mark! As of yesterday we raised just over $6500 and today we were able to add more than $300 more to our total--$230 of which was from Hexbug sales alone! I love how our school (and extended) community is coming together to support these amazing kids.

If you ordered a Hexbug Ant, don't worry, they are on "backorder" and we should have them tomorrow afternoon.

Thanks so much!
~The Syntax Errors

Selling Like Hotcakes!

The school support for the Hexbug fundraiser has been absolutely astounding! We raised about $400 over the last few days, enough to send another student to Anaheim!

Thanks MMCS for supporting our team through this fundraiser!
~The Syntax Errors

A Milestone!

The blog has reached over 1,000 visits since it's start just two weeks ago. Thanks to all of you that have come by and continue to check in. As you can see from our counter on the right, we still have a few thousand dollars to raise so anything you can do to get the word out is greatly appreciated.

This Friday from 5-8 is our Music Review fundraiser--just $5 per family and you can be entertained for 3 hours! We will also have a bake sale with sweet and savory treats, robot drives for $1 and Hexbugs for sale. See the map below for directions.

In the event that you cannot attend Friday's fundraiser--please use the PayPal donation button on the right to support our team. It all adds up!



View Larger Map

Variety Show Fundraiser

Image from pixelgirlpresents.com

This Friday, April 5 from 5-8pm our school is hosting a variety show fundraiser for the Syntax Errors.

Students, families and community members will sing, dance, act, and otherwise entertain us through the evening.

$5 per family is our suggested donation. Hexbugs will be for sale ($7 for the Nano and $12 for the Ant), and robot drives will be $1.

We hope you can join us for an excellent evening showcasing our local talent.
~The Syntax Errors

HexBug Fundraiser

Ant Hexbug image from Cutebiz.com

To support our fundraising efforts we are selling Nano and Ant Hexbugs! They are for sale on the Mountain Mahogany Community School campus and will be at any of our community fundraisers, such as the bake sale at Altura Park.

Hexbugs are micro robots that move and have sensors which allow them to do unique things.

The Nano, for example, vibrates to move and if it ends up on its back is able to right itself. We are selling the Nano for $7 a piece. You can see the Nano in action here.

For $12 the Ant could be yours! The Ant is larger than the Nano and zips around on hard surfaces. When it runs into an obstacle, the sensors on its antennae signal it to back up. When it backs into an obstacle, the sensors there indicate that it should move forward. Click here to see the Ant in action.