Steps for a Cause

On Saturday May 8th, 2010, the Molokai Gleeks put on their walking shoes for an important cause... the 33rd annual Visitors Charity Walk.  Our team felt it was important that we take an active role in helping cancer patients on Molokai.  So, in previous weeks we went door-to-door asking for donations, as well as, collected funds at our Ho'ike community event.  We raised $480 to donate to our charity - The Molokai Cancer Fund.  Funds raised are used to support cancer patients on our island to travel off-island to get treatments like chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. It was a great feeling to walk and give back to a worthy charity!  

To find out more about the Vistor's Charity walk, read the Steps for a Cause article, by Megan Stephenson, that was published in The Molokai Dispatch on Thursday May 13th, 2010.  Check out the photo of our team member Lily Jenkins.  SMILE Lily!

Steps for a Cause

Charity walk brings big money.

In 25 minutes last Saturday morning, around 50 people raised just under $5,000 for nonprofits on Molokai.

The 33rd annual Visitors Industry Charity Walk raises money statewide for charities, and all money stays on the island where the money was raised. This was Molokai’s second year participating, where the donations also include extra money donated by the Maui Hotel & Lodging Association, said Executive Director Carol Reimann.

This year had a higher turnout than last year thanks to the island’s keiki, said Councilman Danny Mateo.At last Saturday’s charity walk, some participants ran ahead to finish first – Tekoa Torres-Umi (top left), Hojo Pou, Lily Jenkins, Esther Torres-Umi (bottom left), Makana Kaahanui and Caele Manley.

“We’re doing this to help each other – Molokai style,” he said. “There are so many nonprofits that need our help.”

Included in the charities benefited by the Chamber Foundation this year was Kaunakakai Elementary, which does not usually qualify because it is not a 501c3 nonprofit.

“We’re trying to reach out to organizations who do work for the community but who can’t fundraise like [nonprofits],” said Molokai Chamber Foundation President Barbara Haliniak.

Along with Kaunakakai, Kalaupapa’s Aloha Week fund was also included through the Chamber Foundation. Participating nonprofits include Molokai Baptist Church, Aka`ula School, Habitat for Humanity, Molokai Family Support and the Monsanto Fund.

Ho'ike - Sharing Our Knowledge

Community impact is an important part of our project.  Because lives can be saved through early detection and prevention, our team thought it was vital that we participate in educating our family, friends, other schools,  and community members about cancer awareness.  On May 11^th, 2010, our team participated in our island-wide Ho‘ike event.

Our team had an informational booth where we told people about cancer, cancer prevention, and our innovative project, LabWoW invention that we dreamed up. We also collected $480 in donations that we donated to the Molokai Cancer Fund.  This non-profit organization helps Molokai cancer patients with off-island travel expenses to receive cancer treatment.

Follow the other Molokai Robotics Teams!!!

Thank you to everyone who is following our blog! Please check out the other Robotics teams on Molokai who also have a blog!!!

Mahalo for your support!!

http://www.molokaiwalkietalkies.blogspot.com

http://www.molokaiforgetmenots.blogspot.com

http://www.kaunakakaipharmers.blogspot.com

Body Forward!!!

Each year Fist Lego League has a new theme and is made up of three components. The Technical Design: Where teams have to come up with unique designs for there robots, Programing/Robot challenge: Students program there robots to do as much missions as they can do in a 2 1/2 minute period, and a Project based side: Students have to come up with innovative technologies based on each years theme. 

This years theme is "Body Forward". Before we came up with a solution to this years theme we had to discuss as a team what "Body Forward" means to us. "Body Forward" to us means to improve the health and happiness of people on Molokai, Hawaii, the United States, and ultimately the World. This years challenge is to come up with a innovative technology that will do just that. Once we clarified as a team what "Body Forward" meant it was easy to move on from there. 

The solution to our team’s problem is early detection for cancer through the use of the Nano-bio-chip technology, which is a diagnostic fluid based sensor. This technology was developed by John McDevitt at the University of Texas, then he moved to Rice University in Texas to further his research. This chip detects oral cancer, breast cancer, cervical cancer, heart disease and in the future, one drop of saliva could be screened for all sorts of diseases, not just cancer and heart disease. The Nano-bio-chip detects cancer by reading the type of proteins found in the cells of your saliva.  Each type of cancer is uniquely identified by a specific type of protein.  This test is painless and efficient. You simply spit on the chip witch is then moved into a machine called the lab now, its about the size of a toaster and in approximately 8 minutes, you will have your results. When you spit on the Nano-bio-chip the mixture travels through a small tube into a chamber then you put the chip in the lab now for analysis. The chamber has a porous membrane floor that drains out the fluid and leaves the larger cells in the chamber. Antibodies are then pumped into the chamber through the wholes in the floor. The antibodies are labeled with florescent dyes that attach to protein on the surface of cells called Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR). If the EGFR is over expressed then there is cancer present. 

Check out our Team!!!!

Here is a picture of our team!! Meet Sarah, Kylee, Momi, Lily, Cendall, Alex and Hikilii!! Look for more from these intelligent ladies in the near future! We are all going to take turns writing the blogs and maybe even posting some Vlogs! :)

Hi Hello Howz-It Hikilii

Cruisin' with Cendall

      Cendall is 12 years old and is a Home schooled 7th grader.  In college, her mother took voice lessons and  has became a talented singer.  Since then, Cendall's mother has encouraged her children to sing for their church to praise Jesus for what He has done for them.  Because of this, Cendall has grown up around music and she was taught to sing at a young age.  Besides church, Cendall also sings at Awanas (a kids bible study), Waialua Christian Youth Camp, and many other places. 
    As you can tell, Cendall has a passion for singing and that is one of the reasons why she decided to participate in the Glee robotics club at Kaunakakai School.  She can now sing her heart out for robotics as an official Gleek member.

All About Alex

      Hi my name is Alex.   I am 13 years old and I am in the 8th grade. I go to Aka‘ula School. This is my first year on any First Lego League robotics team.  I enjoy robotics a lot. I enjoy the academic and social part of being on a team. I like to construct robots and figure out how to improve our bot. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to join at first when I heard about it from my friends.  But as soon as I joined, I realized it was definitely for me!

I am so exited for my first competition.  I am excited about the singing and dancing aspect of our team’s project. Our team’s name is the Gleeks. We based our name off Glee, a popular show on T.V. which you might know, also has a lot singing and dancing.  That’s great since we all love singing and dancing so much. 

Come down to Kaunakakai School to check out my super-fly solo… Life Life Baby.  It’s a modern remix of Vanilla’s Ice’s ‘80s hit single.  

Kickin' It with Kylee

         Kylee Bush is currently a 6^th grader who attends Kaunakakai School on Molokai. In 3^rd grade, Kylee got interested in being an inventor.  Lucky for her the robotics program on Molokai started that same year in 2007.  She thought it would be an awesome program for her and she also thought it would help her get into a good college.  Now, her passion for building and inventing are being nurtured in robotics.

            Another passion of Kylee’s is singing.  When she first started singing she was about 7 years old.  She debuted her talent around the campfire during a family Christmas camping trip.  She impressed her family members while singing Christmas carols.  Kylee’s ‘ohana immediately recognized her talent and encouraged her to continue singing.  Last year, Kylee and three other girls went to the Brown Bags talent show on O‘ahu where they were honored with a first place trophy. 

This year, Kylee continues to practice her singing skills with the Gleeks, the robotics show choir at her school.  Now all three passions can be combined…building, inventing and singing!

A Little About Lily

         Lily Jenkins is a 6^th grader at Halau Lokahi Public Charter School.  Her hobbies include surfing, skating, snowboarding, Kenpo, and robotics.  Oh yah… she also is super interested in music.  She is often heard singing in the shower and seen listening to her I-pod.  Lily’s favorite TV show is Glee.  

       You can imagine how exited Lily was when she heard the news that her robotics team was doing a spoof on the hit show Glee for their project presentation.  Lily is thrilled to sing about the Lab Now technology that her robotics team is highlighting in the 2010 FLL - Body Forward competition.  Her I-pod is now full of Glee show tunes that blast through her ear buds.

Some Stuff About Sarah

Sarah Jenkins is thirteen years old.  She is in the eighth grade and is currently attending Halau Lokahi Public Charter School. Sarah made her first singing debut at the age of five. She participated in a Christmas play at Kilohana Elementary School starring Rudolph in the song, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. This ignited her passion for performing, and singing on stage. Sarah then continued her passion for singing by belting along to the radio in the car.

When Sarah transferred to Kaunakakai Elementary school she became involved in the robotics program there. This program taught her to love science, technology, research, and of course her passion for singing continued. Thus, she was delighted to participate and be apart of the Molokai Gleeks robotics team, which combined both her passion for singing as well as science and technology.  Sarah is ecstatic to be a robotics show choir member.

Meet Momi

Momi Afelin is in the 7^th grade at Molokai Middle School. During her free time she enjoys hanging out with her friends, going to 4-H where she rides and tends to horses, taking care of animals, and playing with her pets.  But that’s not all.  This sporty spice also enjoys playing soccer, surfing the waves, and swimming at the beach.  And of course she adores singing.

Momi debuted her performing skills at the age of 2, dancing for Halau Hula ‘O Kilohana.   Her talents led to other performances for various community events such as Ka Hula Piko on Molokai and the Prince Lot Festivals on O‘ahu. She continued her passion for dancing and performing with the Halau Hula 'O Kilohana up until the age of eleven when she transferred schools.  Unfortunately, this move led her to have to quit dancing. But, with her new found time she was able to join a robotics group.

Momi has been in robotics for two years now. Last year she was on the Molokai Monarchs team who earned 1^st place in the Best Presentation category.  This year she is thrilled to be on the Molokai Gleeks team. She is excited to be performing as a robotics show choir “Gleek” with the song Don’t Stop BeLIVEing as a personal favorite.

Molokai Digital Bus

Aloha,


Our Molokai Gleeks team had the privilege to participate in the Molokai Digital Bus blessing. The Digital Bus introduces students to a variety of scientific tools and technology like digital microscopes, Vernier pH probes, temperature probes, dissolved oxygen probes, salinity probes and GIS software to utilize in scientific inquires and environmental monitoring.


There, we talked story with Senator Akaka, Senator Inyoue, Vaughn Vasconcellos (owner of Akimeka and founder of the Digital Bus), and many others. This ceremony was hosted at Ali'i fish pond. We would like to thank everyone who made it possible for the Digital Bus to come to Molokai.


We can't wait to use the Vernier probes with the Lego NXT Mindstorm software.  Our science experiments will never be the same.  That's a good thing!

Talk Story with Senator Inouye

Hi, my name is Sarah Jenkins and I am the Team Captain and Project Manager  for the Molokai Gleeks First LEGO League Robotics team.

On Saturday August 28th, 2010 our robotics coaches, Heidi Jenkins  and David Gonzales, took a group of Molokai robotics students  to the Maui Economic Development Board's Ke Alahele Education charity fundraiser.  Three members from our team including myself, Momi Afelin, and Lily Jenkins shared our project for this up and coming year's theme - Body Forward.

As we prepared for the event, we had a slight misfortune.  WATER!  The display board for our "Spit it Out" project blew into the koi pond behind our demonstration table.  After we fished it out, we realized the display board was too water logged and soggy to save.  We wanted to cry, but that would have added more water to the situation (LOL). This is when being a critical thinker and problem solver became handy.  Luckily the information and pictures were laminated!  We were able to use MEDB's wood display board with our school's name.  With some towels and some tape, we were ready to present.  It wasn't as beautiful, but we learned that you have to adapt and overcome difficult situations and ho'omau (persevere).  

Later that evening, we shared our project with many important people and public officials... most notably - Senator Daniel Inouye and his wife, Irene.  The Senator listened intently and offered supporting advice.  He encouraged all of our team members to go to college and pursue science and engineering degrees.  He also suggested that after we graduate from college, we should return back to Hawaii to make our islands stronger.   

Mrs. Inouye also spent time listening to our project on the Lab Now.  She was impressed that this technology could use our saliva to detect proteins associated with certain types of cancer.  She also expressed that our research on breast cancer, cervical cancer, and oral cancer was an important topic for women to be aware of.    Both the Senator and his wife promised to exercise regularly and eat healthy to prevent cancer.

Check back soon to read some additional highlights about our meeting with the mayor and other MEDB attendees.  

Welcome to our Blog!!!

Thank you for checking out our blog! Here is where we will be posting details on our teams journey to the First Lego League Competition in November 2010. Check back often, as we will be updating our blog at least once a week!!

Mahalo,
Molokai Gleeks

Molokai Gleeks are now on blogspot!

The Molokai Gleeks are an all girl FLL robotics team of 6th-8th graders.  The team this year consists of:
Sarah Jenkins - Team Captain and Project Manager
Cendall Manley - Team Captain and Presentation Manager
Hikilii Chow - Public Relations Manager and Historian
Momi Afelin - Technical Design Manager
Lily Jenkins - Robot Manager
Kylee Bush -  Equipment Manager
Alex Gilliland - Gracious Professionalism Manager