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April 2014

Edition Creating a cleaner, more fuel efficient tomorrow.

2014 Emerald Coast Electrathon Results

By: Jason Gonzalez

On April 26 the Los Altos Academy of Engineering

participated in the 2014 Emerald Coast Electrathon, hosted by

Vaughn Nichols in Pensacola, Florida. Bringing experience from

last year's Electrathon, students Kaitlyn Eng, Matthew Barnes,

Ashley Ho, Paul Shubin, Jacob Barron, Ivan Zelada, Kevin Wang,

Samantha Liu, and Kenneth Hirscht took the new vehicle “Volt” and

legacy vehicle “Speed Racer” to the competition. In the first round,

which lasted an hour, Volt ran 43 laps and Speed Racer ran 53 laps.

In the second round, Volt ran 10 laps for a total of 53 and Speed

Racer ran 41 laps for a total of 94.

These successes also came with many obstacles. A challenge

for Speed Racer was that the throttle petal would release completely

because the pot, which pushes the petal back up, was wedged into a

screw. As a result, the batteries were overworked due to the

The LAAE race team stands proudly in front of Speed Racer and Volt at the Emerald Coast

Electrathon.

Emerald Coast

Electrathon Results

Open House

Mini Urban Challenge

Adopt-An-Engineer

Supporters

Sponsors

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excessive demand of the car. Volt also

experienced some technical difficulties. The

wheels on Volt were not aligned correctly

which resulted in the chain coming off.

Additionally the tires also popped due to the

heat. There was also an electrical bug which is

still needs to be repaired. In conclusion, the

students were very successful at the

competition. “The race was a learning

experience as we improved since last year,

which is a success in itself. After the race, we

as a group felt we accomplished what we went

there for,” said Matthew Barnes.

We would like to take this opportunity to

thank Mr. Hess, Mr. Richter, and Mrs. Eng

for contributing their time and support to

the program. We would also like to thank

our sponsors who were able to make this

possible and Mr. Don Knabe as well as the

County of Los Angeles for their generous

$5000 donation. Thank you Laurie Marshall

and Rigo for helping LAAE for all these

years with vehicle bodywork and logos.

Engineering Open House

By: Kimberly Hsu

On April 14, the Los Altos Academy of

Engineering held its annual Open House. This was an

opportunity to debut race vehicles Volt and Speed Rac-

er before the Emerald Coast Electrathon on April 26.

Students took this opportunity to test drive

both vehicles on the blacktop. The vehicles were a

huge success as they made smooth turns and

demonstrated their level of preparation for the race.

“Speed Racer ran really smoothly because we were

able to figure out the correct gear ratios and use the

motor to its full capacity,” states Jacob Barron, Speed

Racer’s driver. LAAE held a silent auction for items

donated by parents such as golf clubs and large

paintings. It also held a raffle for amazing prizes

including gift cards and building equipment. At the end

of the day, LAAE was able to raise $700 towards its

Emerald Coast Electrathon endeavor.

Senior Ashley Ho makes a lap around the blacktop

with new vehicle Volt.

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Mini Urban Challenge

By: Samantha Verduzco

The robotics teams of the Los Altos Academy

of Engineering performed in yet another fun and

exciting competition known as the Mini Urban

Challenge. The two teams travelled to Dorsey High

School in Los Angeles on March 1 to participate. The

eleven competitors included Marcos Avila, Kevin Mo-

rales, Jerry Wang, Kimberly Hsu, Alisa

Smanpongse, Michael Chang, Eric Liu, Dominic

Gonzalez, Andrew Rojas, Jason Kwon, and Michael

Attanasio. They worked together to create an

autonomous robot over the past few weeks. They put a

lot of hard work and dedication into these robots trying

to make them move completely on their own.

The primary objective of this competition was

to successfully program the robot in order for it to park

in designated parking spots. The first robotics team

was able to make their robot park in the first parking

spot, but after their initial success didn’t have much

luck. Unfortunately, the second robotics team was not

able to park any of their robots in the six spaces. They

had programmed the robots with the wrong color tones

for the competition so the robots could not properly

read the colors. They tried to recalibrate the colors but

didn’t have enough time to complete the task before the

competition ended. This was the first year out of the

three years that they have gone to this competition that

Los Altos did not qualify for nationals. However, it was

a great learning experience.

Team leader Marcos Avila shared that the split

teams were organized so that the more experienced

members were evenly distributed among the new

members so they could get a better understanding of the

competition. They were able to learn new building

techniques and further their skills in programming.

Andrew Rojas remarked, “With the experience we’ve

gained from this year’s competition, I feel that next year

we can take all the knowledge we accumulated and

make our way back to the national competition.”

Team LAAE’s robot Astera is programmed to navigate through a designated course.

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A Word from our Adopt-an-Engineer Fundraiser Sponsors

Thank you to the following people for your generous

donation and words of encouragement.

David Li: “Go! Kevin! Go!”

Griselda Esquivel: “Good Luck”

Teresa Enriquez: “Best of luck to our engineers of our future.

You are already winners!”

Lien Sun: “I am so proud of you Jonathan” “I am so

proud of you Jaime.”

Sarah Saldana: “The future is waiting for! Go after it!.”

“Best of the future, building stuff!”

Llanet Robles: “I wish you the best of luck with your plans.”

“I love you, and keep up the good work.”

Patricia Estrada: “Love you, keep up the good work. Shoot for

the stars!”

Kimberly Wong: “Ken is a great person. =w =b He deserves

to be adopted.“

Carolyn Lestor: “Justin has the ability and the right attitude

to be the best engineer possible.”

Mary Ann King:

“Go forth and win!.” Patti Sako Briglio:

“The LAAE is an exceptional program led by a dedicated instructor, Mr. Ed Richter.”

Rose Yin:

“ Keep Going! Matthew.”

Stephen McGill: “Hope you reach your goal. Sounds like

fun.”

Isabel Coronado: “How Exciting! Wish you luck.”

Carmen Coronado: “Buena suerte!

Sylvia Valdez: “I hope you reach your goal!!! Good

Luck.”

Tar Hong Melamine: “Win Win Win. We are proud of you and

respect your efforts. Here is $500 funding.”

Shalom Montgomery: “Good luck with the rest of your

competitions this year! Go LAHS

engineering!”

Mrs. Mann: “Good luck!”

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Sanja Sobot: “Good luck!”

Tina Krause “Good luck!”

Ms. Myung “Jacob is a responsible and dedicated

student.”

Lee Turner: “Good Luck to everyone and I hope you

all have a good time.”

Eduardo Berrara: “Keep up the good work.”

Sam Hernandez: “Allow your mind to soar on the

ever advancing wings of engineering.”

Mihaela Mihai: “Be a good child and make your

new mother proud.”

Vivian Hayashi: “Good luck to all the future

engineers!”

Ms. Myung: “Jacob is responsible and a

dedicated student.”

Michael Kalta: “Matthew is a great person”

Kenneth H. Hirscht:

K.C. Hirscht: “Go Conquerors!”

Michael Keith: “Have fun, and learn”

Yolanda Hirscht: “good luck in the Emerald Coast

Electrathon”

Emad Kalta: “Good luck this year! We support you on

whatever you do.”

Ruth Heaton: “Good luck Los Altos Academy of

Engineering!”

Doug & Meliissa Rozsa: “The sky is the limit! Good luck LAAE!”

Victor & Carole Walsh: “Your doing great things.”

Myrna Osequera: “I am proud to sponsor Isaac Silva and put

$50 towards LAAE and support the vehicles.”

Ray Gonzales: “May the sunshine bright on your electric

vehicle.”

Fred Riecke: “ Good luck with Speed Racer, Volt, and

Omega.! Bring bac a trophy!

Gloria Moreno: “Go go racers!”

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B. Colbert: “Have fun. Best of luck.”

Adam Powele: “All the best and good luck. Go speed racer.”

Filipe Villalabos: “On behalf of my wife and I, we wish you the best of luck!”

Thomas A. Hallett: “We wish you well in your future endeavors.”

Tony Luong: “Good luck and drive safe, hope you’ll win in this race.”

Diane R. Menius: “Gavin, may the force be with Speed Racer, Volt, and Omega.. Love Googah.”

Diane R. Menius: “Matthew, when you get to the race track don't forget to say, “Gentlemen start your engines.” Love Googah.”

Victor and Carole Walch: “You’re doing great things!”

Doug and Melissa Rozsa: “The sky’s the limit! Good luck LAAE!”

Ruth Heaton: “Good luck Los Altos Academy of Engineering.”

Bob Burningham: “Best of wishes for this project. It has my full support.”

Hector Olivar: “Keep up the great work!”

Ana Olivar: “So proud!”

Delia Ramirez: “Good job Gracie Guerrero.”

Alanna Ho: “I love engineering!”

Winnie Gilbert: “Good luck in Florida. Love, Mom.”

“Good luck in Florida!”

Sandy Kim: “Hello! :)”

Janice Kim: “Good luck!”

Sandy Eng: “Set your goals and achieve them.”

Robin Polito-Shuffer: “Go forth, Gavin, and change the world!”

Hsinyih Su: “All the best, Samantha! From: Sabah’s

mom.”

Lee and Carol Oldham: “We are happy to support the academic and creative young people in this program.”

Rick Menius: “Keep up the good work. Maintain your grades. Also, help our mother. Love Poppa.”

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George and Renee Barron: “Jacob you make us proud! Innovators out to change the world. A world changing generation.”

Maureen Sinclair: “Good Luck!”

Luis, Lidia, & Rosa: “Determination, courage and lots of studying is the beginning of a great career.”

Bonnie Atlas: “Ashley, best of luck to you and your engi-neering team. Our future is looking better with your achievements.”

Greg Fergus: “Ashley, Good Luck! You are a Rock Star!”

J. Ruiz: “Ashley congratulations on your ac-complishments I hope you have fun driving those vehicles and of course learn a lot.”

Waylup Choy “Congrats Ashley! Good job following your big sister’s footsteps. Very proud of you!”

Bill & Tanya Shubin: “Paul is LAAE” Keep up your outstanding work and dedication and teamwork.”

Andrew Muth: “Gracie, best wishes to you and the Los Altos team on your journey to Florida!”

Dennis Mak: “Good Luck Gracie!”

Ed & Sheila Richter: “Our best wishes go with you on your quest to compete in Emerald Coast Electrathon. Touch

the future and enjoy the journey!”

Donato B. Diaz: “Good Luck Sabrina Delgado we are very proud of you. Love uncle Nacho & Carmen Diaz.”

Tim & Diane Carrasco: “Go Speed Go!”

Sadie Mendoza: “Good Luck!!”

Larry Ingram: “Mathew will make an excellent engineer and we wish him luck in the world.”

Seung-Yun Lee (Leo): “Good Luck and have fun in Florida!”

Bea & Hector Cortes: “Good luck on your endeavor! We are proud! Love– The Cortes Family.” “Be careful on the track. You are not allowed to get hurt on it. Do the best you can, but don't push over the limit and stay safe. Good luck!”

Ho Family: “Go PR Team! Go LAAE!”

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A Word from our Adopt-an-Engineer Fundraiser Sponsors

Thank you to the following people for your generous donation and words of encouragement.

Industry Hills Rotary

Lions Club

KIWANIS

Sherfab

Tar-Hong Melamine USA, Inc.

Laurie Marshall

Patricia McIntosh

Alex Wang

Debbie Yeh

Grace Tolmachoff

Stephanie Paz

Rodflo Perez

Stanley Escobar

Yuan Wang

Owen Wang

Maria Paz

Vian Ning Li

Riva Pao

Hope Lambert

Rosa Serpas

Ivan Zelada

Alex Ho

David & Sarah Samarin

Joel & Elizabeth Kasparian

Jaclyn Ho

Mr. Gibson

John Howing

Penny Fraumeni

Norma M. Heredia

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THANK YOU SPONSORS

Brimar Products Banning Bikes

Tar-Hong Melamine USA, Inc.

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Los Altos Academy of Engineering 2013-2014

Staff Writers:

Kimberly Hsu

Samantha Verduzco

Jason Gonzalez

Editors:

Bill Rockwood

Dear community

supporters, This will be our last

newsletter for the

2013-2014 school

year. Thank you for

your continuous

support in the Los

Altos Academy of

Engineering. We

deeply appreciate

your participation

in helping LAAE

build a cleaner,

more fuel

efficient tomorrow.

LAAE

CONTACT INFO

Phone: (626)-330-1096

Fax: (626)-855-3145 Email: pr@lasv.org

Website: www.lasv.org

Facebook:

Los Altos Academy of Engineering

15325 E. Los Robles Avenue,

Hacienda Heights 91745, CA