Laura Masbruch

The WHS Portfolio Committee is seeking community members to be a part of the listening audiences on Wednesday, May 22, 4:00 – 7:00 p.m. We are hoping for at least 15 Whitewater Community members to participate. Community members willing to attend the presentations can email lmoll@wwusd.org  or call 262-472-8203 to sign up by Friday, May 3. 

Members of the Whitewater High School Class of 2024 are currently preparing for the annual Portfolio Event which will be held on Wednesday, May 22, 4:00-7:00 p.m. at the high school. 

This event for seniors allows them to showcase their academic achievements, celebrate their accomplishments, and share their postsecondary career and academic plans before graduation. To make the presentations more meaningful, students present to an audience of WHS staff members and members of the community along with family and friends who are invited to attend. 

Students present examples of their best work in core academic and elective areas, share 2 or more examples of their involvement in activities in and outside of school, or work experiences, and at least one service activity that had special significance. Students then describe their future career & educational plans and the pathway they have chosen to accomplish their career goals. Graduates end their presentation by summarizing the most important learning experiences they’ve had in high school and how they hope to use their knowledge and skills to become a productive and responsible member of society. 

We are looking forward to having our community support for this event.

Article Submitted by Kate McNulty
WHS Senior Class Advisor
kmcnulty@wwusd.org

Ferradermis spent part of their Spring Break in Chicago, enjoying some strong competition at the Midwest Regional, which featured 50 teams from 6 countries and 10 states. Teams traveled from Panama, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Canada, and Mexico, to join American teams from Hawaii, California, Florida, Arkansas, New York, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri, and Minnesota at Credit Union 1 Arena on the campus of the University of Illinois Chicago from March 27 – 30. Among the participants were four FIRST Hall of Fame teams – Team 359 Hawaiian Kids, Team 111 Wildstang, Team 16 Bomb Squad, and Team 191 the X-Cats – as well as a member of last year’s world championship alliance, Team 4096 Ctrl-Z.

Ferradermis more than held its own in this elite field on day one of qualification matches, going 5-2 and ending the day ranked 11th. The team returned to action on Saturday morning for 3 additional qualification matches, going 1-2, with a final ranking of 18th out of 50 at the end of the morning. The robot’s performance has steadily improved at each of the team’s three regional events, scoring more and more points in each aspect of the game (autonomous, tele-op, and the endgame).

During the 15-second autonomous period at the beginning of each match, the robot runs pre-programmed code to pick up and shoot notes (orange foam rings) from various pre-determined positions on the field. The Ferradermis Programming Team, led by Ace Hudec, has been logging extra hours between and during competitions to improve the autonomous routines. The biggest challenge of autonomous is coordinating with your alliance partners to make sure your pre-programmed paths are complementary and will not interfere with each other. Bumping another robot during autonomous will force both robots off of their planned paths, and neither will be successful. Ferradermis has prepared a variety of different autonomous routines in order to coordinate with their other alliance robots.

The Ferradermis robot, Chief Lee the Tangerine, has become an expert at scoring notes in the amp (a shorter field element) during the tele-op period when the robot is controlled by Driver Andrew O’Toole and Operator Kay Mikos. When one note has been placed in the amp for each alliance, there is an opportunity for the human players for the two alliances to push a button and activate a “coopertition bonus” which lowers the threshold that both alliances need to meet to earn a ranking point for note scoring. During the Chicago event, only two teams – Ferradermis and Mukwonago – had a perfect 1.0 Coopertition score. This score is also used as a tie-breaker in the rankings if multiple teams have the same average number of rank points.

In addition to managing the coopertition bonus, Human Player Erison Dreksler also controls amplification. Notes scored in the larger field element (the speaker) count as 2 points each during tele-op, unless the speaker is amplified, and then they count as 5 points. The speaker can be amplified for 10 seconds at a time each time two new notes have been placed in the amp, and the human player has pressed the amplification button. Timing is everything in this operation, as you want all 3 alliance robots prepared to shoot notes into the speaker within that 10-second timeframe after the button is pushed, potentially also having other notes on the ground nearby to try and get off additional shots.

During the endgame (the final 20 seconds of a match), robots try and climb onto chains on the stage (a third field element). Chief Lee the Tangerine is an excellent climber, and can be counted on by its alliance partners to climb when needed as part of match strategy.

Only 24 teams make the playoffs (not necessarily the top 24 ranked teams), and by midday Saturday, the team anxiously awaited alliance selections. During alliance selections, the top 8 ranked teams get to choose their alliance partners for the playoffs. Decisions are based on scouting data gathered during the event as well as sometimes, prior relationships. Teams attempt to build well-rounded alliances with 3 robots that will complement each other in all aspects of the game on the field. Ferradermis Game Strategy Subteam Lead Emerson Dunham graciously accepted an invitation from Team #5847 Ironclad from Bradley, Illinois, who was ranked #5 in qualifications, and Team #930 from Mukwonago, who was ranked #30 in qualifications, to join the #4 seeded playoff alliance. Ferradermis then agreed to mount a shield onto Chief Lee for the playoffs that would help them play defense on behalf of their alliance, and this added an interesting twist to the remaining matches. The alliance was eliminated after only two playoff matches, when both Chief Lee and the Ironclad robot experienced mechanism failures.

Throughout the week, the team was supported by students serving in many additional roles including Technician Nina Heim, Safety Captain Elora Wildermuth-Breitzman, Head Scouts Andrew Zimmermann and Cyrus Hudec, Videographer Margaret Brown, Judging Spokespeople Maddison LaHaie and Cosette Wildermuth-Breitzman, Scouts Chacha Binagi, Zoe Olson, Toby Kapfer, and Belle Cohen, and Pit Crew Member Luc Pomazak.

Ferradermis had never participated in the Midwest Regional before, and it was a fantastic experience. The team spent time at the WNDR (wonder) Museum upon arrival in Chicago on day one, and enjoyed several meals together as well. The competition itself was a really great warm-up for what the team will see in Houston at the FIRST World Championships in two weeks, both in the high level of competition and in the global nature of the teams in attendance. For the 2023 Championships, Houston hosted around 50,000 people representing 974 student robotics teams from 59 countries across the FLL, FTC, and FRC levels. The FRC competition this year (the level in which Ferradermis competes) expects to host 600 teams from approximately 30 countries divided into 8 fields/divisions. Each division will crown a champion alliance, and then the division champions will play off against each other for the title of world champion.

Article and Photos Submitted by Laura Masbruch
Whitewater High School Robotics Advisor
lmasbruch@wwusd.org

The FFA Dairy Cattle Evaluation team competed at the regional Career Development Event (CDE) contest in Janesville on March 15th.

Students demonstrated their dairy cattle knowledge through a written assessment, evaluating and ranking classes of dairy cattle, and providing verbal reasons to judges for their evaluation rankings.

All our students scored well individually to earn an overall team ranking of 2nd place. Their 2nd place ranking qualifies the team for the state contest on April 25th at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison. Congratulations to the team, and good luck at State. 

Article Submitted by Paul Majors and Allison Parsons
Whitewater High School Ag Teachers and FFA Advisors
pmajors@wwusd.org, paral01@wwusd.org

The Whitewater High School Forensics Team had amazing performances at Thursday night’s District competition hosted by Stoughton High School. This is part of the Wisconsin Interscholastic Speech and Dramatic Arts Association (WISDAA) State Series.

Five students will advance to the State Tournament, which will be hosted by DeForest High School in April:

• Carley Boudreau (11) – Informative/Demonstration Speech
• Emerson Ellenwood (12) – Expository Speech
• Emilia Houwers (12) – Expository Speech
• Marina Linos (12) – Informative/Demonstration Speech
• Lauren Rollette (12) – Solo Serious Acting 

Article and Photo Submitted by Elizabeth Miller
Whitewater High School Forensics Coach
emiller@wwusd.org

UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena played host to fifty-four high school FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Teams from Wisconsin, Illinois, and Minnesota from March 14 – 17, 2024. Wisconsin currently has sixty-six active FRC teams, and forty-four of them were playing in this tournament. Whitewater High School’s team, Ferradermis, is the only FRC team in the Rock Valley Conference.

The Ferradermis robot, Chief Lee the Tangerine, performed very well, going 7-3 in its ten qualification matches under Driver Andrew O’Toole, Operator Kay Mikos, Human Player Erison Dreksler, and Technician Nina Heim. The robot had undergone a major change in its shooting mechanism in the ten days between the Northern Lights Regional in Duluth and the team’s trip to Milwaukee, greatly improving the accuracy of the mechanism and making the robot a force to contend with on the field.

During qualification matches, the randomly assigned alliances of three robots are awarded ranking points – two for a win, one for a tie, one for scoring a minimum number of notes (orange rings), and one for achieving enough points in the end game, which is based on climbing on the stage (a structure with 3 chains). The #1 ranked robot, Team 6223 Arsenal of Engineering from Menomonee Falls High School earned a total of 28 ranking points during qualifications. Ferradermis earned a total of 19, placing them 16^th in the overall rankings.

Emerson Dunham, the Game Strategy Subteam Lead for Ferradermis gratefully accepted a gracious invitation from Team 9535 The Knack from Lake Country School to join the #6 seeded playoff alliance along with Team 2194 Fondy Fire from Fond du Lac High School. The alliance played extremely well together, going 3-2 in the double-elimination tournament. Before losing to the alliance led by Team 1714 MORE Robotics from St Thomas More High School (the team that had been the #1 seed at the Northern Lights Regional in Duluth), the Ferradermis alliance managed to knock out the #1 seeded alliance along with the #5 seed and the #7 seed.

Working together throughout the weekend to support the team were Safety Captain Elora Wildermuth-Breitzman, Head Scouts Andrew Zimmermann, Zoe Olson, and Cyrus Hudec, Head Programmer Ace Hudec, pit crew member Luc Pomazak, videographer Margaret Brown, Ambassadors Cosette Wildermuth-Breitzman and Maddi LaHaie, and Scouts Belle Cohen, Rae Breisath, Chacha Binagi, Georgia Esch, Preston Miller, Carson Miller, and Toby Kapfer.  Ferradermis worked with an eight-team scouting alliance at this event including teams from Mukwonago, Muskego, Sheboygan, MSOE, New Berlin, Waukesha, and St. Thomas More. This was the largest scouting alliance we have ever formed, and it allowed us to use two sets of data gathering tablets for the first time, providing redundant data to help minimize the impact of any errors in data collection.

In addition to the work with the robot, students had many other opportunities to engage with others at the event. On the way into Milwaukee, the team stopped at Tailored Label Products in Menomonee Falls for a tour. This is where the team’s Head Coach Jacob Lee works as an engineer, and it was great for the students to gain a better understanding of his career path. Two of our students chose to sing in the team choir and performed the national anthem at opening ceremonies. Since our team had won the Impact Award in Duluth, Ferradermis was not allowed to compete for that award again in Milwaukee. However, our Impact Presentation Team organized an “Impact Exchange” where teams could come together to share ideas and help each other with their presentations. Ferradermis was honored to be one of two teams selected to do a live interview with WISN Channel 12 News in Milwaukee, so five of our team members put on a show with the robot in the pit and shared information about the Impact Award. Also at this event, the team got to see two more of its alumni, Reilly Aschenbrener and Daniel (Peter) Portwine giving back to the program by volunteering as robot inspectors.

Ferradermis could not do what it does without the many sponsorships it receives from businesses, individuals, and service organizations in and around Whitewater. The team was excited to be able to host two representatives from one of our Platinum-Iron Sponsors, MacLean Fogg Component Solutions, at this event.

The next stop for the team is the Midwest Regional at Credit Union 1 Arena in Chicago, which will take place over Spring Break. Plans are also coming along nicely for the team’s trip to the FIRST Championships in Houston from April 16-21.  Thank you to the many individuals, businesses, and service organizations (56 at last count) who have come together to help the team fund this incredible experience! There are still many opportunities to help the team with their fundraising:

Attend the Ferradermis Bionic Bingo Night at The Real MacCoys on March 26 at 6 p.m. This event is hosted by the United Way of Jefferson and N Walworth Counties.

Dine at Rocky Rococo’s on April 9.

If you already shop at Kwik Trip, you can purchase Kwik Trip cards through the team at face value, and the team gets to keep a portion of the sale.

The WUSD Robotics Booster Club is running an online flower bulb sale.

Direct donations to the team can be made on the team’s website.

Article and Photos Submitted by Laura Masbruch
Whitewater High School Robotics Advisor
lmasbruch@wwusd.org

Whitewater High School Forensics competed at UW-Whitewater’s annual Speech Bowl on Saturday, led by outstanding performances from seniors Emerson Ellenwood (Expository Speaking) and Emmanuella Mbifi (Extemporaneous Speaking) and junior Carley Boudreau (Informative Speaking). Their combined efforts earned them 1st Place in the Small Teams Division. The award for this division is known as the Jeanine Fassl Award, named in honor of Jeanine Fassl, former Director of UW-Whitewater’s Forensics program and long-time Whitewater resident and advocate for the arts. Jeanine was there to present the award, making the occasion even more memorable.

The team’s next competition is the Wisconsin Interscholastic Speech and Dramatic Arts Association (WISDAA) State Series District Tournament at Stoughton High School on March 21st.

Article and Photo Submitted by Elizabeth Miller
Whitewater High School Forensics Coach
emiller@wwusd.org

Please join us in congratulating the WHS Math Team, who on March 6th scored higher than nine other high school teams to win the Rock Valley Conference Math Meet Championship!

Andrew O’Toole, Lauren Rollette, and Alex Clarksen were all recognized for high individual point totals, with Andrew tying for 1st place individual score in the Conference. The team totals were close, but thanks to the points earned by them and their teammates Emmanuella Mbifi, Nola Coburn, Luc Pomazak, Emerson Ellenwood, and Dante Baker, the championship trophy is back at WHS where it belongs.

The team offers its own thanks for the outstanding math faculty at WHS who nurtured their problem-solving skills and math knowledge.

We’re proud of you, Math Team! Well done!

Article and Photo Submitted by Eric Kendall
Whitewater High School Math Team Advisor
ekendall@wwusd.org

The Whitewater High School FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Team #6574 Ferradermis traveled to Duluth for the Northern Lights Regional from February 28 – March 3, and came home as the Impact Award Winners, and as a result, qualified for FIRST Championships in Houston, Texas in April! The regional hosted 55 FRC teams from five states: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, and Iowa. There are four championship qualifying spots from each regional – the captain of the winning playoff alliance, their first pick in alliance selections, the Impact Award winner, and the Engineering Inspiration Award winner.

The Impact Award, as stated by FIRST, is “the most prestigious award in FIRST Robotics. It honors the team that best represents a model for other teams to emulate and best embodies the mission of FIRST. It was created to keep the central focus of FIRST Robotics Competition on the ultimate goal of transforming the culture in ways that will inspire greater levels of respect and honor for science and technology, as well as encouraging more of today’s youth to become science and technology leaders.”

The Impact Award is highly competitive and highly valued in the FIRST community. The submission requires that students respond to 13 questions in an executive summary, write a 10,000-character essay, produce a 3-minute video, prepare a 7-minute presentation, ready themselves for a Q & A session with the judges, and provide detailed documentation for everything that they write or speak about. The content may only reference activities from the team’s last three years.

The student Impact Team of Cosette Wildermuth-Breitzman, Maddison LaHaie, and Belle Cohen dressed as tour guides and wowed the judges with their presentation which took them on a “tour” of the impact made by Ferradermis within the team membership, school, community, and state. Items the students highlighted included multiple demonstrations for younger students in the community, a day where the team helped local Girl Scouts earn their robotics badges, presentations given at state and regional conferences, and advocating for FIRST at the State Capitol.

When Ferradermis travels to an overnight event, the team always attempts to include an educational opportunity on its day one agenda. This year, the team was able to spend a couple of hours at the Great Lakes Aquarium before the pit setup crew had to go to work. At least one meal is set aside as a team meal, and in Duluth the tradition is to go to Sammy’s Pizza. Ferradermis has also started a tradition for the Saturday evening after the Duluth event ends – bowling and pizza at Superior Lanes.

The 2024 Ferradermis robot, named Chief Lee the Tangerine because of its many orange components, took the field in practice matches on Thursday, qualification matches on Friday and Saturday, and eventually as part of the #1 seeded alliance for the playoffs on Saturday afternoon. The drive team consisting of Driver Andrew O’Toole, Operator Kay Mikos, Human Player Erison Dreksler, and Technician Nina Heim led the team onto the field under the direction of Drive Coach Jacob Lee.

At a regional, each team is assigned a 10’ x 10’ x 10’ space to work on their robot, known as their pit. Safety Captain Elora Wildermuth-Breitzman kept the pit clean and safe while representing the team in a daily meeting and even taking a volunteer shift stopping pedestrian traffic on the robot travel path to the field. The Safety Team was honored to receive the Safety FIRST award given by another local team, Nicolet FEAR. Programming Subteam Lead Ace Hudec spent nearly the entire event in the pit enhancing the robot’s functionality in between matches by making changes to the code.

Gathering detailed scouting data is a huge part of developing match strategy and planning for playoff alliance selections. Ferradermis Game Strategy Subteam Lead Emerson Dunham worked in advance of the competition to organize a scouting alliance with MORE Robotics from St. Thomas More High School, CORE Robotics from the combined Waukesha high schools, and the Mechanical Mustaches from Chicago. Each team provided two scouts at a time for hour-long rotations, working under the supervision of Ferradermis Head Scouts Zoe Olson and Andrew Zimmermann. The students were each assigned a particular robot to watch in each match and used a system of Android tablets to record their data which then synced to a master tablet. The data was then analyzed through WarriorWatch, a system of spreadsheets developed by the WarriorBots from Muskego, a regular scouting partner for Ferradermis when the teams are at the same event. Students taking scouting shifts in the stands and sometimes rotating into the pit to work on the robot included Cyrus Hudec, Preston Miller, Carson Miller, Toby Kapfer, and Rae Breisath.

Students also worked to document every move the Ferradermis robot made on the field. Margaret Brown filmed each match and then quickly moved to meet the drive team back in the pit so they could analyze the footage. Meg Roselle used the team’s media badge to go with the drive team to matches to capture field-side photos and video that could be used in her social media posts on behalf of the team.

Chief Lee the Tangerine was expected to perform well on the field, and by the end of the competition, it was doing everything it could to contribute points to its three-robot alliances. However, due to poor overall performances by our randomly assigned alliances in the qualification round, combined with a qualification match schedule that was ranked the second most difficult at the event, Ferradermis found itself at the bottom of the rankings when qualifications ended. However, highlighting the importance of good scouting data, MORE Robotics was able to look beyond the rankings and appreciate the quality of the Ferradermis robot and drive team. As the #1 ranked team at the event, MORE selected Ferradermis to join them on their alliance for the playoffs. After winning their first two playoff matches, the alliance was eliminated by the eventual champion when the other two robots on the alliance, MORE and Sabre Robotics from Minnesota, experienced mechanical and electrical issues on the field. The Ferradermis alliance officially finished in third place.

The two 2024 Dean’s List nominees for Ferradermis are interviewed at one regional event of their choice to try to become Dean’s List Finalists. Dean’s List is the only individual award in FIRST and is intended to recognize the leadership and dedication of the most outstanding secondary school students from FIRST. Ferradermis was proud to submit Erison Dreksler, Electro-Mechanical Subteam Lead, and Andrew O’Toole, Technical Team Captain, as its nominees this year. The pair opted to complete their interviews in Duluth.

Thank you to the families, community members, and members of the Whitewater Fire Department who came out to welcome the team home on Sunday, March 3! The team spliced together video footage from the awards ceremony as well as photos from the welcome home celebration. Thank you also to Whitewater Girl Scout Troop #7639 for the two cases of celebratory Girl Scout cookies; we truly enjoyed helping you earn your robotics badges!

Ferradermis will compete in two additional regional events before heading for Houston. We invite community members to join us in Milwaukee at UWM Panther Arena for the Wisconsin Regional on Saturday and Sunday, March 16 and 17. The event is free and open to the public. The team will also be in Chicago for the Midwest Regional over Spring Break. Ferradermis is truly excited for that opportunity as the event is hosting teams from six countries and ten states including Hawaii, Florida, California, and New York!

Although the team may not compete for the Impact Award at the next two regionals, our Impact Team will work with other teams to help them prepare during the Impact Exchange held at each regional, and they will continue to plan for their presentation and judge Q & A in Houston. The robot will continue to compete, and should our team earn another qualifying spot at the Wisconsin or Midwest Regional, we will generate a wildcard, allowing an alternate team to head to Houston.

Ferradermis is now in major fundraising mode, needing to raise as much as $50,000 for the trip to Houston in order to transport and house 30 people for five days. The team is hoping to host a series of restaurant nights at various locations in town and will be reaching out to local companies to request additional financial sponsorships. Individual donations of any amount are very welcome (and tax deductible). Donations can be made through the team website at https://www.ferradermis.org/ via credit card or checks can be sent to the school in care of Laura Masbruch. Checks should be made out to WHS with a notation that they are for Ferradermis. The school address is 534 South Elizabeth in Whitewater. The team is also selling Kwik Trip Cards and the new WUSD Robotics Booster Club is hosting an online plant sale.

The team could not do what it does without the tremendous community support that it receives. Thank you, Whitewater!

Article and Photos Submitted by Laura Masbruch
Whitewater High School Robotics Advisor
lmasbruch@wwusd.org
Additional Photos Courtesy of Rich Grosse