November Newsletter
Cow Town ThrowDown 2015
Even though they lost in the finals, S.W.A.T. had a great time at the Cow Town Throw-
down this year.
Team 1806 traded their hallow-
een costumes for S.W.A.T. camo
on October 30th and 31st, as they
headed to Lee Summit High
School in Lees Summit, Missouri.
The event called Cow Town
Throwdown is hosted by local
Lees Summit teams 1730 Team
Driven and 2001 HERMES. The
event is a favorite off season com-
petition for the team and requires
using last seasons robot and
game rules. Cow Town bridges the
gap between Worlds and the
FIRST Kickoff in January and
helps to get the team excited for
the upcoming season.
S.W.A.T did what they do best,
consistently putting up four six tote
stacks with a container and noodle
for 42 points a stack, adding big
scores to their alliance. Drivers
2015
Sponsor of the
Month!
FIRST Team 1806 is al-
ways looking to partner
with sponsors and individ-
uals to help bring robotics
into the community. For
information on sponsoring
S.W.A.T., please contact us
by sending an email to
frc1806@gmail.com
Becker Lethcoe and Edward
Holicky performed at peak levels,
maintaining the highest qualifica- In this Issue
tion average at the event, and end-
ing qualification matches seeded Page 1
first with an average score of Cow Town ThrowDown
182.62. When it came to drafting, 2015
1806 picked up team 1825, the
Cyborgs from Lees Summit, 1763 Page 2
The Paseliens from Kansas City, Cow Town ThrowDown
and 2335 Sargon from Prairie Vil- 2015 (continued)
lage.
1806 consistently put up the S.W.A.T. Students at
highest numbers by far in the first TSA Leadership
few rounds of eliminations match- Page 3
es and it looked as if the team
would sweep the competition. But
S.W.A.T. Member of
the second seeded alliance cap- the Month Becker
tained by 525 Swart Dogs from Lethcoe
Cedar Falls, Iowa started putting S.W.A.T. at Harvesters
up similar numbers.
(continued page 2)
Page 4
S.W.A.T. Hosts FTC
 November Newsletter

Cow Town Throwdown 2015 (continued)

The two alliances clashed in the finals as
S.W.A.T. took the first match of the series.
But in the second and third matches S.W.A.T.
ran into mechanical problems, and ultimately
lost to the Swart Dogs in the finals.
The team didnt go home empty handed
however, as they were awarded for being fi-
nalists as well as winning the Driven to Suc-
ceed award which celebrates a team's overall
effort in the competition. It is based on robot
design, team effort, and gracious profession-
alism.

S.W.A.T. was known at the event for their consistent

stacks of six totes, can and noodle, as seen pictured
left.

S.W.A.T. Students at Technology Student

Association Leadership Conference
S.W.A.T. students (top left to right) Lauren Kirtley, Baileigh
Kienzle and Regan Fish (bottom, left to right) Chance Sports-
man, Edward Holicky, Cam Lethcoe and Blaize Madrid-Evans.
S.W.A.T. recently sent a small group of their
youngest and brightest members to a TSA Leader-
ship convention in Rolla, Missouri. TSA is a non-
profit organization that stands for Technology Stu-
dent Association. The group aims to teach leader-
ship and provide opportunities through science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
TSA lives by the motto Learning to live in a tech-
nical world, and backs that up with preparing stu-
dents for roles in those industries and on their ro-
botics teams.
TSA is also what provides the basis of the for-
mal parliamentary style meetings S.W.A.T. holds
once every two weeks. The students who went
learned a lot about good leadership qualities in a
technological environment in the short time they
were there. It was a great experience to go out
there and learn a lot about the traits of a good lead-
er, said Cam Lethcoe, an active student who took
part in the convention. This convention was a fan-
tastic event to help students learn the ropes of lead-
ership so that they can apply it back to their teams
and even in their future job. With the help of TSA
and all that they do, we can truly learn to live in a
technical world.
 S.W.A.T. at
Harvesters
Team 1806 along with some members
of Smithvilles FFA Chapter recently took
part in their biannual trip to Harvesters on
November 12, 2015 in downtown Kansas
City, in an effort to reach out to the commu-
nity. Team S.W.A.T. had a great turnout of
students who came to help bagged food for
Harvesters BackSnack program which the
team has helped out with before. It is a
goal of S.W.AT. to give back to the commu-
nity due to the great support that we get
from the people of the area. We greatly ap-
preciate the support we receive and thus
love opportunities to give back. All in all,
the two groups managed to put together
2,060 bags for the BackSnack program,
which is 10% of the 20,000 bags that Har-
vesters sends home with local kids each
week.
S.W.A.T. Member of the
Month Becker Lethcoe
Becker Lethcoe joined S.W.A.T. as a freshman and has been
actively involved ever since.
Officially the candidate for having some fun,
Becker Lethcoe exudes S.W.A.T. spirit. Our team captain
this year, Becker makes sure that the team is hyped be-
fore every competition by playing the Cory in the House
theme song. He also manages the electrical team, helps
with fabrication, and is our driver. Between his major
S.W.A.T. roles, and Student Council, and NHS, Becker is
a busy man.
Becker joined the team as a freshman, motivated
by his love of robotics, and has kept with it all the way
into his senior year. Throughout this long robotics career,
Beckers favorite event was the 2015 OKC Regional,
where we captained the winning alliance and won with
our homies Team SCREAM, 4522. After he graduates
next year, Becker plans on attending MIT with a major in
mechanical engineering. Beyond that, his plans boil
down to two words: get money.
The SWAT experience surprised Becker when he first
joined. The team is fairly hands-off. I didn't expect this
and it was hard to adapt to, but in the long run it's made
me a better thinker and problem solver, since I was ex-
pected to learn a lot on my own. He attributes a lot of the
teams success to our amazing mentors and the long
hours team members contribute. As much as he helps
the team, the team has taught him a lot too. I've learned
to work with a team towards a common goal. Every
year's FRC challenge is way too much for any one per-
son to do, so you have to learn to work well with others
and work around each team member's strengths and
weaknesses. We all hope that Becker can bring the exu-
berant energy he gives the team into his life, college and
beyond!
 Mark Your Calendars
S.W.A.T. Hosts FTC Tournament
at Smithville
FRC Kickoff is
S.W.A.T. will be hosting an FTC Qualifier event on
Saturday, January
Saturday, December 12th. The event will be held at 9th!
the high school in the main gym and is free and Check out
open to the public. If you are interested in volunteer- http://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/frc
ing to be a judge, field referee, or any other position for more details!
please contact Mr. Jason Jones at
jonesj@smithville.k12.mo.us or Mr. Scott Vitek at
viteks@smithville.k12.mo.us for more information.
If you aren't interested in volunteering, we highly
encourage you to come out and see for yourself
what these kids are capable of doing! This years
Visit our Website!
FTC game Res-Q promises to be a fun and exciting www.smithvillehighrobotics.com/
game to watch! Two of our own teams of sopho-
mores and freshman will be competing along with
many other area teams. Opening Ceremonies start And Follow us on
at 11:50 and Qualification matches start at 12:15. Twitter! @frc1806
We hope to see you there!

Thank You Sponsors!

Darrell Smith Benjamin L. Westman, DDS Bill & Bonita Farrell

Russell & Betty Woollums Paul and Dawn Clouse Earl & Diane Soetaert
Dave Telles Denny & Nancy Lowe G. Gupta
Chuck & Joan Hitchborn Ron & Mary Kay Grusenmeyer

November Newsletter 2015