Got a question?
Ask a ToadBlogger!
The last 10 entries:

Subscribe to the ToadBlogs RSS Feed

Search the blogs:

Dodgeball & Robots

by Bel :: Sunday April 10, 2005

As my senior year draws to a close, I realize even more keenly how much I’ve enjoyed being a senior and student here at Thacher. As a Prefect in the Upper School dorm, for instance, I’ve had the opportunity to help organize very amusing activities—notable example: challenging the Los Padres Prefects, and then the whole Los Padres dorm (sophomore boys), to a game of dodge ball. Seems pretty simple, but believe me, it’s a great deal of fun, work, and playful rivalry. It’s also a Thacher tradition that such challenges must be made in front of the whole school at Assembly (school meetings held three times a week). The custom involves utilizing a skit to make such challenges known to both the community and the party being challenged. In our finished skit, the Prefects of Upper School put forth dodge ball as a suitable medium for deciding, once and for all, which dorm had the “handsomest men.” In the end, the Prefects and residents of the Upper School emerged as victors in what will long be remembered as a series of grueling dodge ball matches. Yet, not all has been said and done, as the friendly rivalry continues. The Los Padres residents have vowed to make a similar challenge in the near future to overturn what the last match decided. We, the handsome men of Upper School, eagerly await their challenge.

In addition to the enjoyment of being a Prefect, the academics of my senior year have similarly given me many unforgettable memories. Like in my Java & Engineering class, in which one of my classmates-Ryan-and I made a robot walker. Using Legos Mind Storms equipment and the programming knowledge we have accumulated over the years, we set out on the exciting task of mimicking human motion. After five prototypes and countless examinations of walkers (quadrupeds and bipeds), the final result was a robot with a sliding center mass and two legs, operated by a total of three motors. The robot, though fairly slow, was albe to do what both Ryan and I had before considered a very easy task. But most importantly, watching the walker “walk” gave me a very palpable sense of accomplishment, which I will never forget.

My senior year has given me unique memories, and I know that, even in the few weeks left, I will continue to create new ones. I will cherish them all.

* * *