It’s hard to believe what a full summer we had – it seems TDT has gone nonstop from the end of last season to the start of the new one.  We’ve enjoyed demoed everywhere from the Renaissance Festival to an Orlando after school program, conducted outreach  programs at the Electrathon Festival and the Moffitt Health and Science Festival, toured the Port of Tampa with ASME, the Univ. of Central Florida Engineering Department,  and gotten some eye opening insights on the latest technologies at coolTech 2011 and the Tampa Bay Innovation Center.

Now it’s time to get back to regular meetings, practices and mentoring, reconnecting with friends old and new – and old friends in new

A little Robot C mentoring with FTC team Brick Buddies

places: Brick Buddies just transitioned to an FTC team, with some familiar faces from both FLL Brick Buddies and TechnoForce!

With seven of our ten members graduating this year, TDT has also kicked off an apprenticeship program this season, with two upper middle school students joining in for hands on experience for them and their families in the interest of keeping the TDT legacy strong and viable after our veteran team members move on.

Ethan, once a middle school apprentice, is now a veteran TDT member!

We’re very proud of our graduates 6 in the last two years- all of whom have gone on to college and most of whom are pursuing a variety of science and technology fields, from medicine to engineering.  We want to keep providing the engaging “inspiration for science and technology” in our community, that FIRST offers in such an exemplary way, and hope our new high school students, and our up and coming apprentices will keep Team Duct Tape going strong for a few more years to come!