Letter: Responsible robotics
On Saturday, members of the Aspen community turned out their closets and produced boxes, bags and tubs of old electrical cords, cables and holiday lights as part of a hugely successful cable drive organized by eight Aspen Middle School seventh-graders. An amazing 821 pounds of recyclable material was collected in just a few hours!
The students, having won first place at the state FIRST Lego League Robotics Tournament for their cable-recycling invention, The Cable Chomper, held the drive to raise awareness of the need to recycle e-waste responsibly and to assist their research preparations for a potential place in the national semifinals in Washington, D.C., in June. They were selected as the state nominee from Colorado to have the opportunity to go forward in the competition.
Enormous assistance was given to the effort by Liz O’Connell at the city of Aspen and Jack Johnson of Pitkin County. Their expertise and energy have been integral to the success of the Aspen Middle School robotics program in 2016 as students tackled both global and local problems relating to trash disposal and recycling. With the help of Liz and Jack, we have not only educated students but raised awareness in our wider community of these important issues. It is surely in great part thanks to them both that team Trash and Trekreation has been so successful.
We thank the city of Aspen and Pitkin County for supporting our schools.
Katherine Sand
Parent, team Trash and Trekreation
