Mr. Polis, Professional Pilot Training Instructor, and his students, have collected bottles throughout the school year for the Bottles For the Brave Organization.  Mr. Polis and his students collaborated with Ms. Pam Burner, the founder of the organization.  The main purpose of this project is to help our soldiers while helping our environment.  The money collected from the bottles is used to buy supplies, snacks, and postage for our soldiers who are actively serving in the military.  Ms. Burner shared her joy in reporting the collection of 257,000 water bottles which earned $10,600 for this very worthy cause.  This is an island wide program.  She has established 33 different collection sites including 2 on Eastern Long Island Academy at Technology campuses (BTC, MTC, and 1 Eastern Suffolk BOCES campus SAC).  The impact these funds have on our troops around the world and on our environment is immeasurable. 

Turns out, Physical Games, Board Games and Video Games Have a Lot in Common

Engineering Teacher Suprina Oliver at the Eastern Long Island Academy of Applied Technology recently introduced her students to the latest class project – obstacle course design. Her class is collaborating with the Personal Training program, which hosts an annual intra-school obstacle course each spring. This year, the Engineering students are attempting to design the course itself.

To do so, students are learning to employ the engineering design process, a systematic way to solve problems that is used by engineers worldwide. This project is teaching them about game theories, game strategies and making them realize that they use the same concepts to design a board game as they would for a video game and an obstacle course. “The elements, the rules, the science, the math all come into play,” said Oliver. “Many students have seen obstacle courses but they may not realize they can create them; that this is engineering in action.”

Each student was required to follow certain stipulations and develop a course. Next, they were put into groups of two and are now in the process of calculating how to unify the two designs into an original idea. They will use math and science to ensure the obstacles are safe, and consider esthetics, colors and all the client’s needs (the client is the Personal Training teacher). They will even participate in any construction later in the school year. The Personal Training teacher will choose one winning course from both the afternoon and the morning classes and decide if he wants to use the entire course or certain elements. Said Oliver, “This activity has made them understand there is more to the game industry than virtual games and video games. They may realize that this can be a career.”