FLL 2013 IL Kickoff

We had a huge response to our Nature's Fury Kick-Off event at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.  The event was held on Sunday, September 8th and we had 81 teams and coaches attending with a total of almost 900 people.  We are very grateful to the museum for allowing us to host this event on the premises and for providing teams access to the museum to see the Science Storms exhibit.

Teams and coaches spent their time between a number of activities such as exploring the science behind some of nature's most powerful phenomena - tornados, waves, lightning and more at the Science Storms exhibit at the museum. The exhibit contains over 50 interactive challenges. Teams could also begin to  think about how to Prepare, Stay Safe and Rebuild as they learn about  Science Storms  by completing  the guide found at the following link: http://www.msichicago.org/education/field-trips/exhibit-guides/

Teams also attended  presentations from experts in the field.  

Our first speaker was Jim Allsopp from the National Weather Service office in Romeoville.  Jim is a Warning Coordination Meteorologist and spoke about the major weather-related events over the past few decades. You can download the slides from his presentation here.

Our second speaker was Paul Sirvatka, professor of Meteorology at the College of DuPage and lead instructor in a class about Storm Chasing called Thunderstorm Laboratory. You can download the slides from his presentation here.

Our third speaker was Jonathan Marsch, a Community Planner with FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency.  FEMA is always involved in rebuilding after a natural disaster and Jonathan offered some information about how to better prepare You can download the slides from his presentation here.

Our fourth speaker was Jamie Geils from the Watershed Planning Group of  DuPage County Storm Water Management.  You can download slides from her presentation here

In addition to listening to the speakers, teams were able to observe the Nature’s Fury competition table and listen to an explanation of the table missions from Brian Gravelle, the Head Referee for Illinois.  You can download slides from his presentation here.

Teams could also see the demonstration of a watershed model table in the exhibit area presented by Mary Mitros. Many of the teams also took the opportunity to ask questions of our experts about building and programming robots.

It was an exciting day  and we are sure that the information presented will inspire teams as they prepare their projects.

Have a great Nature's Fury Season!