Apple Ridge Farm Makes Pitch to Management

October 15, 2009

After many emailings, CS2 has analyzed the lack of internet propagation at Apple Ridge Farm and come up with a possible solution: create a wireless mesh network.
A wireless mesh network essentially consists of one or two main routers that transmit signal to other routers, that then retransmit the signal in their area. In this way, you can access the internet over a large area with only one source and no burying of wires or too much expensive investment. The contact for this site was intrigued by this idea and has decided that the time is ripe to present this idea to the upper echelons of administration. We hope that we can harness the power of CS2 and soon visit this site to help them set up this new system!

Check out Apple Ridge Farm at http://www.appleridge.org/

Harding and Beeks Elementary Sites Begin

September 25, 2009

Visits to the Harding Elementary School and Beeks Elementary School will occur on Fridays, with a ride leaving from Owens Parking Lot at 3:00 p.m.

Volunteers will help out with the after-school Computer Club for 4th and 5th graders at each site from 3:30 to 4:30. The purpose of the site is to spark an interest in Computer Science at a young age by giving the kids a very basic look into CS fundamentals through activities such as "human programming", elementary game design, and lots more. If you are interested in volunteering and would like to learn more, please e-mail Gregory Wilson (mrwilson@vt.edu) for information about the Harding site, and Mike Casey (mcasey07@vt.edu) or Chris Hairfield (hairfie@vt.edu) for information about Beeks.

Scouting Day at the Big Event

Saturday, April 18th: Scouting Day with the Hokies at the Big Event (2-3 pm)

This exciting event will involve hundreds of boy scouts who have come to see the many fun techologies that computers have brought. Some activities will involve exploring the world with Google Earth, making 3D houses with Google Sketchup that can be put into Google Earth, creating websites with the Nvu editor, and making games with Game Maker and Scratch. We will incorporate the activities that we have used at the weekly elementary school visits in order to show them some of the interesting and fun things computers can be used for. Let us know if you want to sign up to volunteer by sending us an email: cs2@vt.edu


Meeting Minutes

October 15, 2009:

Thanks to Qualcomm and the CSRC for all the awesome pizza!

Site Updates:
-Beeks and Harding Elementary School Computer Clubs in full swing
-Studio Stem: program under way, but waiting on contact for rides/confirmation
-Apple Ridge Farm: CS2 has suggested that they implement a wireless mesh network!
     The idea is being pitched to management...
-Blacksburg High School: waiting on contact
-Blacksburg Middle School: Not enough student interest at this time
     We will reapply for next year!

The calendar has been updated - Check it out to see whats going on every week, and check the events' details to get specific information.

February 12, 2008:

Overview
-Pizza thanks to Fast!
-Updates
-Upcoming events
-Curriculum meetings

Beeks/Harding
-Worked on games last week

PKU Tracker
-Showed how the web site is progressing
-Accessible at: www.cs2.org.vt.edu/PKUTracker/PKUTracker.html
-Hopefully incorporate a database in the future
-Could still use organizer

Blacksburg High
-Game programming
-Still searching for site coordinator

West End
-Looking for site coordinator

Other Events
-Info sessions for Fidelity and Duke Energy
-McBryde room 129 and 113
-Monday, February 16 at 8 pm

The Big Event
-Day of service: April 18
-Register a team
-Work 3-4 hours
-Registration open until April 3

Kids' Tech University
-February 28, March 28, April 18
-Children and parents come
-Hands-on activities
-Mainly technology, science, and engineering
-Setup: 12:45-1:30 pm
-Main event: 1:30-3:30 pm
-Take down: 3:30-4:00 pm

COE Booth
-April 6, 11:15 am to 2:15 pm
-Host a booth at Open House for students
-RSVP by February 16

Meeting Minutes 4-9-09:

Robert enters. "Who's ready for another CS Squared meeting?!?" he exclaims at the top of his lungs. At that instant a vision appeared in the mist, and the ghost of Jonathan Rexrode shone through. "I've come to take what's mine," he said. "That's right," Robert concurred, "we're going to have TWO presidents!"
Everyone is shocked (except Sahil, he is working on OS).
The meeting begins.
Blank screen in front of the crowd, Robert chews his fig bar. The presentation is robust yet gentle. Rugged, yet fresh. It has a strong minty aftertaste...

Overview
-Site update
-Relay for Life April 24th
-Scouting Day (Big Event) April 18th 2-5pm
-Curriculum Ideas

Site updates
-Beeks/Harding don't meet this week
-Harding last mtg is May 1
-Beeks last mtg is one week earlier
-Newport (Google Earth with elderly)
-PKU Tracker (not much going on, look into advertising)

Big Event
-April 18th 2-5pm
-Scouting Day
-South end zone concourse
-doing activities from Beeks and harding (Google Earth/Sketchup)
-Scratch, NVu

Social
-Video games
-May 6th


Are you a new member? The best way to get information on how to get started with CS2 is to get on our listserv. Send an email to listserv@listserv.vt.edu with "subscribe CSSQUARED YourName" as the only text in the message.