News & Events

Forty-two high school FIRST Robotics teams from Wisconsin, Illinois, and Minnesota descended on UW-Milwaukee’s Panther Arena from March 23 – 26 for the FIRST Wisconsin Regional. Whitewater High School’s Team #6574 Ferradermis played well throughout the event!

Ferradermis played 12 qualification matches with a final record of 7-4-1, earning an average of 2.25 ranking points per match, and a final ranking of 12th out of the 42 teams. Up to four ranking points can be earned per match. Two are awarded to the winning alliance in each match, and in the case of a tie, each alliance is awarded one ranking point. During this year’s game, an alliance can earn an additional ranking point in a match for successfully scoring a certain amount of cargo in the hub and another for scoring a certain number of points by climbing in the hangar during the end game. Ferradermis earned at least one of those additional ranking points in 10 of their 12 qualification matches. They also played two “unicorn matches” which is the nickname given to a match where an alliance earns all 4 ranking points.

The drive team in Milwaukee was led by senior driver Elijah Grall, freshman operator Andrew O’Toole, junior human player Jazmin Cederberg, and freshman technician Hugo Portales.

During the alliance selection process, because some of the higher ranked teams selected each other as alliance partners, Ferradermis moved up into the #8 alliance captain position. Competition Logistics Captain senior Shane Kinson then took the field to invite Team #1259 Paradigm Shift from Pewaukee and Team #930 from Mukwonago to join our alliance. The alliance played two hard-fought quarterfinal matches before being eliminated by the #1 seeded alliance.

The Chairman’s Team of freshmen Andrew Zimmermann and Maddi LaHaie and sophomore Cosette Wildermuth-Breitzman was able to visit with judges and do their presentation in person rather than virtually as they had for the previous competition in Duluth. Also, while in Milwaukee, the two Dean’s List semi-finalists for Ferradermis, juniors Jazmin Cederberg and Daniel Portwine, had a chance to interview with a pair of judges.

The next stop for the team will be the Seven Rivers Regional in La Crosse from March 30 through April 2. This event will host 47 teams from Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, and Minnesota, many of whom are already well known to each other from the competitions in Duluth and Milwaukee. It should be a great event! The event can be livestreamed at https://www.twitch.tv/firstinspires5 on Friday and Saturday. Go, Ferradermis!

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

Editor’s note: The following was received from Mason DePorter, FFA Reporter.

Recently, the Whitewater FFA gave a $2000 check to the Whitewater Breakfast Kiwanis Club. Last spring the Whitewater FFA decided to donate the profits from the plant sale to Kiwanis to support the We Go Round project. The We Go Round Project is adding an accessible playground feature at Starin Park. 

In honor of FFA week and their ongoing support, the Whitewater Culver’s donated $500 to the Whitewater FFA. 

The WHS Portfolio Committee is seeking community members to be a part of the listening audiences on Wednesday, April 27, 2022, 4:00 – 7:30 p.m. We are hoping for at least 15 Whitewater Community members to participate. Community members willing to attend the presentations can email kmcnulty@wwusd.org  or call 262-472-8230 to sign up by Friday, April 8.

Members of the Whitewater High School Class of 2022 are currently preparing for the annual Portfolio Event which will be held on Wednesday, April 27, 4-7:30 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 and 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. 

Article Submitted by Kate McNulty
Whitewater High School
kmcnulty@wwusd.org

At Our House Senior Living Memory Care in Whitewater we are looking forward to a great evening for our senior residents as we celebrate Prom 2022 on March 31, 2022. We are holding Prom for our seniors to brighten up their evening, and we would love to hear them reminiscence about their memories with special events like this that they had in the past. We want all of our residents to feel special!

We are looking for donations of prom dresses and men’s dress attire. Anything would be helpful to make this a night to remember. We will also be looking for a great local vendor to order our prom meal from. If anyone in the community would like to donate any items for our prom please reach out to Angela Lyman-Executive Director at 262-473-9507 or Brandy Eason-Assistant Director at 262-473-1011.

The image on the homepage,”Corsage – Blumz by JRDesigns in metro Detroit” by Flower Factor is marked with CC BY-NC 2.0.

Whitewater High School’s FIRST Robotics Team Ferradermis has been busy prototyping, designing, manufacturing, building, wiring, programming, and testing their 2022 robot since FIRST unveiled the new game for the Rapid React season on January 8. The team is currently between competitions, having traveled to Duluth, Minnesota for the Lake Superior Regional from March 2 – 5. They will be competing in Milwaukee at the Wisconsin Regional during Spring Break and again in La Crosse at the Seven Rivers Regional from March 30 – April 2.

This year’s game is sponsored by Boeing and themed around the elements of an airport. The game involves shooting oversized tennis balls (cargo) into an upper and lower hub in the center of the field and climbing a set of monkey bars in the hangar during the last 30 seconds of each match. As always, games are played with six robots on the field at a time, 3 on the blue alliance and 3 on the red alliance. To learn more about how the robots play the game, watch the game animation at https://youtu.be/LgniEjI9cCM

Prior to competing, members of Ferradermis enjoyed hosting the community for an Open House on Saturday, February 12. Team members greeted visitors and showed them the game animation before demonstrating the CAD model for the newest robot. Members of the mechanical, electrical, and programming teams then demonstrated how they accomplish their goals, and the tour wrapped up with a visit to the tables hosted by the Whitewater BrickLayers FIRST LEGO League teams from Washington, Lakeview, and Lincoln Elementary Schools.

On Saturday, February 20, members of the team traveled to Sussex Hamilton High School to participate in a pre-regional scrimmage with 25 teams from southern and central Wisconsin. This annual event gives teams the opportunity to test their robot on a full official field for the first time. Teams also have the opportunity to see what other teams have created and discuss ideas. Sussex also includes sessions where students can discuss scouting and strategy at events, see each others’ Chairman’s awards presentations, and practice for Dean’s List interviews.

Duluth welcomed 112 high school FIRST Robotics Teams to the DECC on March 2, split between the Lake Superior Regional and the Northern Lights Regional. This was the first in-person regional event to be held since the first week of March of 2020, when Ferradermis competed at Northern Lights, and everyone was thrilled to be back in action! The 58 teams competing on the Lake Superior side of the curtain this year represented Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, and North Dakota. Because many COVID protocols were still in place, team members had completed two judging interviews prior to traveling north. At other regionals, the judges will mill about in the pits and interact with teams in a much less formal way.

The robot played 9 qualification matches in Duluth, with a record of 5 – 4. The team ended up ranked 38 out of 58, and did not make the playoffs. However, the team was thrilled to win the Gracious Professionalism Award for the Lake Superior Regional. Gracious professionalism is a main tenet of FIRST which expects teams to compete as hard as they can on the field but to also do everything they can to help other teams reach their own potential. Go, Ferradermis!

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