I'll start my story with some background information: 

Living Classrooms Foundation provides a fresh start and changes lives by teaching marketable job skills to students in under-served Baltimore-Washington communities. The Fresh Start program has been recognized for "best practices working with at-risk youth" and for embodying a "continuous improvement process." 

Fresh Start is a school; it is a 40-week job skills training program that serves out-of-school youth, ages 16-19. The program uses metal and wood work as a medium to teach reading, writing, math, history, and science, guiding students to earn a high school equivalency diploma. 

Click the video below and learn how The Fresh T.E.C.H.(Technology Engineering Carpentry and Higher Learning, Team 4242) uses robotics as a teachable moment for students earning their GED:

The Fresh Start program

 

 

As a result of participating in monthly workforce development initiatives in southwest DC, I met Travis Ellis. On October 15, 2015, I sat at the desk of Travis, Fresh Start Program Director and coach of the FIRST Robotics Competition team from Living Classrooms. It had been four years since I first visited their southwest DC location to share a grant opportunity and encourage them to start a rookie team in the 2012 season.

 

Travis still respectfully calls me "Miss Denise". His familiar bright smile was not there as we met that morning. He was faced with the loss of two Department of Transportation mentors, Abby Morgan and Andrew Magaletti, who were taking on new positions and relocating. He was also dealing with a lack of student participation and engagement, and he was considering narrowing the scope of their involvement as a FIRST team to redirect those efforts towards the workforce development goals of Fresh Start.

 

Honestly he was hesitant to register his team for the FIRST Stronghold season. I told Travis that I believed in him, as I have from the beginning. I asked him to have faith that I would find help and funds for his team. I explained our transition to district events, and before I left his office, I registered as the team's alternate coach temporarily so that they could secure slots at two district competitions.

 

And how did they do? I'm happy to say FRC Team 4242 truly excelled this season. Despite many obstacles, including recruiting mentors, Fresh T.E.C.H.s received a hardship grant this season and received support from Department of Transportation and Booz Allen Hamilton mentors. This very small team advanced to the semi-finals and won a Judges Award at our inaugural FIRST Chesapeake District event in Northern Virginia. They went on to win a Quality Award at the Greater DC district event, dominated the qualification rounds, served as Captain of Alliance #2 and most likely would have been ranked #1 if all 78 qualifying matches had been played.

 

Our transition to district events is already eliciting improvement in the performance of District of Columbia teams. The Fresh T.E.C.H.s were one of three DC teams to advance to the FIRST Chesapeake District Championship sponsored by Booz Allen Hamilton at the University of Maryland, including District of Columbia Public School Phelps Architecture Construction & Engineering HS (FRC Team 2912 - Panthers - ranked 53 out of 132 teams) and a private school, St. John's College High School (FRC Team 4456 - Mech Cadets - ranked 50 out of 132 teams). Phelps emerged as the Winner of the Greater DC District Event, and St. John's won the Northern Maryland District Event. 

 

And if that wasn't great enough, Fresh T.E.C.H. traveled to St. Louis to participate in the 2016 FIRST Championship! Ranking 19 among the 25 teams that represented FIRST Chesapeake, they were the only team from the District of Columbia to advance. 

 

 

Enjoying a meal in St. Louis and sharing stories from the season