PASCACK VALLEY AREA, N.J.—The Pascack Valley Regional High School District’s award-winning robotics competition team—which is as devoted to community causes as it is to preparing young people for the future—has set Valentine’s Day as its target to deliver much-needed food and supplies to local food pantries.
And you can help.
Inviting the Pascack Valley to “Show Your Community Love—Be a Food Pantry Valentine,” FIRST Team 1676, the Pascack Pi-oneers, has arranged nine collection points in Hillsdale, River Vale, Montvale, and Woodcliff Lake.
The goods—in terms of their value to recipient families, they’ll be sweeter and more meaningful than any box of chocolates—will benefit Helping Hand Food Pantry in Hillsdale and Tri-Boro Food Pantry in Park Ridge.
Pi-oneers coach Lisa Ruggieri told Pascack Press on Feb. 1, “The team holds a yearly food drive but this year they feel the need is even greater. They appreciate all the support the community gives them, and the food drive is a small way to give back.”
She said the Pi-oneers are grateful for the support of the local libraries, the high schools, and “Pi-Parents” for stepping forward as collection points. The drive runs Monday, Feb. 8 to Saturday, Feb. 13.
Items needed include flour, sugar, oil, Hamburger Helper, hot and cold cereal, rice, pasta, canned meats and veggies, shampoo, conditioner, liquid hand soap, dishwashing liquid, and paper goods.
Drop-off locations are the lobbies of Hillsdale, River Vale, and Montvale libraries, and those of Pascack Valley and Pascack Hills high schools.
Accepting donations at their front porches are homeowners at 17 Cedar St., Hillsdale; 38 River Road, River Vale; 19 Hilton Place, Montvale; and 100 Glen Road, Woodcliff Lake.
To arrange pickup, write piparents@team1676.com.
Building a future that works
Ruggieri has coached and mentored with the Pascack Pi-oneers for the past 16 years, beginning when her son was a founding team member. She founded the Pascack Pi-oneers Parent Association, serving as president and now team liaison. She is Management, Outreach, and Design Lead Mentor, guiding the Pi-oneers to many non-robot awards they’ve won.
She’s liaison to the FIRST LEGO League teams the Pi-oneers mentor, and recruited those school districts to join FIRST and start their own teams.
She co-coached one of those teams at their inception and began two FIRST LEGO League Jr. teams in district elementary schools as well as in a local library.
She also is lead mentor for Team Fundraising, reaching out to parents, the community, and corporations.
Ruggieri told Pascack Press Team 1676 was founded in the 2004–2005 season with 35 members. After 16 years of development, the team consists of 83 members: “future innovators, thinkers, doers, and achievers. We are changing the future, one child at a time.”
Between Ruggieri’s Management, Outreach, and Design division and the Mechanical (robot) division, there are 19 subdivisions.
FIRST, a global robotics community preparing young people for the future, is the world’s leading youth-serving nonprofit advancing STEM education.
Ruggieri said “We strive not only to build a successful robot but also to master and exhibit the many life skills necessary to succeed beyond FIRST Team 1676.”
In competition, teams of students are challenged to raise funds, design a team “brand,” hone teamwork skills, and build and program industrial-size robots to play a difficult field game against like-minded competitors.
Mentors are from local businesses, community members, and alumni parents, as well as returning alumni members.
And the team—the Pi in the team name refers to the mathematical constant—does much more than pull in awards, including the 2017 FIRST World Championship; it is fiercely devoted to promoting the benefits of mentor-based STEAM programs, especially those in underserved areas.
In October 2017, the Pascack Pi-oneers hosted the FIRST Annual New Jersey Advocacy Conference.
And the team partnered with government officials to pass a bill that provides New Jersey school districts with the opportunity to recognize interscholastic extracurricular activities and participants or varsity letter status.
(Team 1676 has been an academic varsity letter team since 2014. There are 51 letter winners to date.)
Much of this information is presented on a comprehensive fact sheet Ruggieri supplied on the team, and 1676’s website constitutes a clear and logically organized avalanche of information on advocacy, awards, projects, mentors, robots, sponsors, and alumni.
Perhaps anticipating information overload, Ruggieri said, “I know our team is a lot to understand!”
Asked for information on the team’s recent work, she singled out quarantine activities and Ready, Set, Speak! (dot-org), a website devoted to improving the communication and comprehension skills of children on the autism spectrum and suffering from apraxia.
(This year, Team 1676 translated the website into Spanish to expand its impact.)
Quarantine Projects
Due to the cancellation of this year’s competition season, the Pi-oneer’s used their time to establish projects and help their community. This includes:
- 3D printed mask straps for donation to nearby hospitals, police, first responders, and essential workers.
- Intubation boxes, designed by coaches, a mentor, and a parent, manufactured by team sponsor Dimensional Worldwide, and donated to hospitals and ambulance corps.
- White Ribbons for Hope Campaign: Inspired by the dedication of essential workers, the Pi-oneers established the campaign to support each other while staying apart… “one white ribbon at a time.” #whiteribbonsforhope
- “Thank you” messages were written to the workers of ShopRite.
Ruggieri also touted the team’s outreach to Nigeria and South Africa, creating a STEM pipeline for students there.
The Pi-oneers started and mentor four teams in Nigeria, and mentors others. Team 1676 organized a Nigeria Student Exchange Program through a partnership with the founder of Coderina (coderina.org), a non-profit foundation in Nigeria promoting STEM.
The 2020 STEAM Fair was held, virtually, in October. The Community Outreach Project Group prepared boxes filled with five interactive STEAM projects. Participants logged in to a meeting with Pi-oneers to complete the activities together.
Moreover, the Pi-oneers annually visit the Children’s Cancer Institute at Hackensack Medical Center, meeting the children, teaching them how to drive a robot, do projects with them, and read the team’s trilogy “Lily the Learner.”
This past year, Hackensack University Medical Center invited the team to watch a live surgery and discuss the implementation of robotics in the medical field.
For much, much more information, visit https://team1676.com.