[nfbmi-talk] braille signs at school mackinaw islaned and robotics team

[Georgia Kitchen]

Mackinac Island Robotics Team Makes Real World Difference



The Braille-n-ators robotics team on Mackinac Island includes (front, 
from left) Albert Mosley, Trevor Pereny, Tristan Greenlee, Ariana 
Pereny; (back) Leon Sehoyan, Mabel Styburski, Clara Chambers, Ava 
Sehoyan, and Xavier Mosley. (Photograph courtesy of Mackinac Island 
Public School)
The Braille-n-ators robotics team on Mackinac Island includes (front, 
from left) Albert Mosley, Trevor Pereny, Tristan Greenlee, Ariana 
Pereny; (back) Leon Sehoyan, Mabel Styburski, Clara Chambers, Ava 
Sehoyan, and Xavier Mosley. (Photograph courtesy of Mackinac Island 
Public School)
Each year, elementary students at Mackinac Island Public School get the 
opportunity to work as a team programing a number of small robots 
through an obstacle course. But this year the project took on a 
different perspective as the self-dubbed “Braille-n-ators” tackled a 
unique question: How can we improve the way we communicate with 
visually impaired people and keep them safe?

The team includes fifth graders Clara Chambers, Xavier Mosley, and 
Mabel Styburski, and sixth graders Tristan Greenlee, Albert Mosley, 
Ariana Pereny, Trevor Pereny, Ava Sehoyan, and Leon Sehoyan. Secondary 
mathematics teacher Susan Bennett, kindergarten teacher Chelsea 
Berkshire, and classroom aide Louann Mosley coached the team.

The students learned about braille and audio books and investigated 
ways to make Mackinac Island safer and more hospitable to people with 
visual difficulties. They asked the Mackinac Island City Council to 
install blind pedestrian crossing signs near the school and worked with 
the Mackinac Island Board of Education to install braille signs 
throughout the building for classrooms and other facilities.

As part of the national FIRST Lego League robotics competition, the 
students gave a presentation about their research and ran their robots 
through the obstacle course. They took second place at the regional 
tournament at Lake Superior State University, in Sault Ste. Marie, 
earning the chance to compete at the FIRST Lego League North and West 
Michigan Championship at Carmen Ainsworth Middle School in Flint in December.


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