See the Moon as red as Rudolph's nose!

Credit: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/17dec_solsticeeclipse/
On Monday after midnight, the full Moon passes right through the chimney of Earth's shadow. For 72 minutes of totality, the Moon will glow as bright and red as Rudolph the reindeer’s nose.

The eclipse begins on Tuesday morning, Dec. 21st, at 1:33 am EST. At that time, Earth's shadow will appear as a “bite” at the edge of the lunar disk, like Santa nibbling on a sugar cookie. It takes about an hour for the "bite" to expand and swallow the entire Moon. Totality commences at 02:41 am EST and lasts for 72 minutes.

If you're planning to spring from your bed, flying like a flash, tearing open the shutter, and throwing up the sash for a look out the window - choose 03:17 am EST. That's when the Moon will be in deepest shadow, displaying the most fantastic shades of red, orange, and yellow. Surrounded by blue and white twinkling stars in the constellations of Orion the Hunter and Taurus the Bull, it’s like a holiday light show!

Why red?

A quick trip to the Moon provides the answer: Imagine yourself standing on a dusty lunar plain looking up at the sky. Overhead hangs Earth, nightside down, completely hiding the sun behind it. The eclipse is underway. You might expect Earth seen in this way to be utterly dark, but it's not. The rim of the planet is on fire! As you scan your eye around Earth's circumference, you're seeing every sunrise and every sunset in the world, all of them, all at once. This incredible light beams into the heart of Earth's shadow, filling it with a coppery glow and transforming the Moon into a great red orb.


Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

True Colors

True Colors isn't just about the SECME banner. True Colors is a model of personality identification.

Students bring a lot more than books and pencils into the classroom. They carry personal baggage as well. Students’ background, home life, and all of the constructive and disruptive forces in their lives affect their ability to learn. True Colors is a way to understand what makes each student tick, and how to help her or him to succeed. True Colors is based on Myers-Briggs and the Keirsey Temperament Theory and is congruent with other teaching/learning modalities used by the teaching profession. By using four colors: Gold, Blue, Green and Orange, with cards that depict the activities of the personality type, a word sort and online personality assessments, students of all ages and adults can determine who they are without having to remember complicated identity indicators.
In the True Colors spectrum, Gold indicates the more structured, disciplined, organized personality type. Many teachers and administrators are predominately Gold and the schools are organized around a “Gold standard”. Students of the Gold group usually do well in school and follow the rules appropriately. Gold students are comfortable within a highly structured environment.
The color Blue indicates the type of person who often thinks of relationships first and values relationships above all else. This group is primarily people-oriented. Blue students usually adapt well in the “normal” school environment, as long as they have the opportunity to relate to other people. For the Blue personality, relationship is the foundation through which academics filter into their personal space. In the general population 35% are Gold and 15% are Blue.
Green represents the more fact-oriented person – the student or adult who is usually asking “Why?” Greens question rules, regulations, and although they normally love to learn new information (they are often interested in science and math), they are not usually people or structure-oriented. Greens value teachers, structure and institutions as information repositories and thrives when encouraged in their perpetual pursuit of discovery.
The Orange people love action and have a very difficult time sitting still for long periods of time. They don’t like rules and much prefer initiating spontaneous activities in the moment without a lot of planning. Orange people can be quick to learn and are often very intelligent, but they are usually not very well adapted to the standard school environment. They prefer hands on discovery and learn through action and movement. They may have excellent mechanical skills and are often great at sports, drama, music, art, and other active, creative, competitive pursuits.
When each individual, whether they be a student, faculty, administrator, parent, business person, professional, politician, etc., understands their True Colors and has a grasp of the colors (personalities) of others, a more harmonious, productive and effective environment can be created. Teachers are able to present information that can be received by each personality type. Students better understand their teachers, their friends and family. They learn about their strengths and how to communicate with others. And by recognizing and embracing differences, they learn to work together effectively.

Scholarship Bulletin for December 2010

Good afternoon,

Attached you will find the most current Scholarship Bulletin. Please be sure to post even if your classes are not senior classes as many of these scholarships occur yearly. Students may also find this information on Edline and in hardcopy in the guidance lobby.

Thank you.

Heather Woeber

Seminole Ridge 2011 Pathfinder Nominees

Seminole Ridge High School is pleased to announce the 2011 Pathfinder Scholarship nominees. Students are nominated in 18 academic, vocational, and athletic categories who have demonstrated outstanding achievement. The following Pathfinder nominees have also participated in Seminole SECME (or if not in SECME, have been science students of the Seminole Ridge SECME school coordinator Mr. Landstrom).

Congratulations to our Seminole Ridge Seniors who have been nominated for this prestigious award. We wish them luck and encouragement as they continue through the nomination process.

Seminole Ridge SECME finishes second in So. Fla. Championship Robotics Tournament

Seminole Ridge SECME’s VEX robotics team dominated during their qualifying matches at the South Florida Championship on Sunday, December 5, with 7 wins, no ties and no losses.

Congratulations to freshmen Conner Piegaro, Jimmie Yunck, Tavo Lemos Caicedo, and their robots who continued our school’s winning streak into the quarter and semifinals during the VEX Round Up tournament hosted Gulliver Preparatory School in Miami.

right to left: Seminole SECME students Conner Piegaro, Tavo Caicedo, and Jimmie Yunk with the B team bot during the South Florida Championship VEX Round Up tournament on December 5, 2010 at Gulliver Preparatory School in Kendall, FL.
After the qualifying matches, teams were ranked based on their performance on Win Points (WPs) and Strength of Schedule Points (SPs). Heading into the playoffs, Seminole SECME stood first out of 32 teams on the leader board with a score of 14 WPs and 83 SPs. Win Points are the first basis of ranking teams, and are awarded for winning (two points) and tying (one point) during a Qualifying Match. Strength of Schedule Points are the second basis of ranking teams, and are awarded in the amount of the score of the losing alliance in a Qualifying Match.

The top teams will then participate in the elimination matches to determine the tournament champions. During elimination match alliances of three faceoff in a best two of three series, with two teams playing in each match. The first alliance to win two matches will proceed to the next round.
Seminole SECME’s robot “BB the BombBot” scoring tubes on the goalpost at the South Florida Championship VEX Round Up tournament on December 5, 2010 at Gulliver Preparatory School in Kendall, FL.)
As the Red Alliance Captain, Conner put together a trio of teams, made from Belen Jesuit Preparatory School in Miami, and Seminole SECME from Seminole Ridge High School in Loxahatchee. The Red Alliance advanced all the way the finals, and won one against the Blue Alliance made of RAMTECH from Miami Coral Park High School, AlphaBots from Christopher Columbus High School, and GPS Robotics from Gulliver Preparatory School, all in Miami. And although the Reds lost to the Blues in the best two out of three (the final game score was 36 to 7), it is the repeated success of Seminole SECME that is remarkable.

Erich Landstrom, Seminole SECME school coordinator, points out that Seminole SECME won the Miami VEX Round Up Qualifier in October, so this tournament’s trip to the playoffs shows that our robots are clearly to be reckoned with, a Cinderella story of circuits and steel at bot ball. Landstrom is very proud of the Hawks hard work. “Giving SECME students the opportunity to work with the VEX robots promotes education in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and teaches critical life skills such as teamwork, project management and problem solving.”

(right: Seminole SECME student Conner Piegaro during the South Florida Championship VEX Round Up tournament on December 5, 2010 at Gulliver Preparatory School in Kendall, FL.)

VEX Round Up is played on a 12’x12’ square field and two alliances – one “red” and one “blue” – composed of two teams. Each alliance competes in matches consisting of a twenty-second autonomous period, where the robot follows preprogrammed commands from its onboard microprocessor. This is followed by two minutes of driver directed play via radio controller. The object of the game is to attain a higher score than your opponent alliance by placing tubes upon goalposts, owning goalposts, and by low hanging or high hanging from the ladder.

The 2011 VEX Robotics World Championship is the final event in the 2010-2011 VEX Competition season. Winning teams from local and state VEX Robotics Competitions will have the opportunity to meet in Florida and compete against other top-ranked teams from around the world, playing the game VEX Round Up. The World Championship will be held at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at the Walt Disney World® Resort near Orlando, Florida on April 14-16, 2011. Coinciding with National Robotics Week, the three-day tournament unites top middle school, high school and college robotics teams from around the world to celebrate their accomplishments and further inspire students to pursue careers in robotics and other STEM related fields.

Gulliver Vex South Florida Championship

Click here for directions to Gulliver Prep School

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Dear Gulliver Competition participants,

I hope that you all are just as excited as I am about the upcoming competition this Sunday. We have 30 robots from 10 schools competing in our qualifier with 6 robots making it to Nationals. There is a list of the robots registered below.

NOVA | Making Stuff (Coming to PBS January, 2011) | Preview #1 -- Robots...

Invisibility cloaks. Spider silk that is stronger than steel. Plastics made of sugar that dissolve in landfills. Self-healing military vehicles. Smart pills and micro-robots that zap diseases. Clothes that monitor your mood. What will the future bring, and what will it be made of? In NOVA's fascinating new four-hour series, "Making Stuff," popular New York Times technology reporter David Pogue takes viewers on a thrilling tour of the material world we live in, and the one that may lie ahead—offering viewers a behind-the-scenes look at scientific innovations that are ushering in a new generation of materials that are stronger, smaller, smarter, and cleaner than anything we've ever seen. Wednesdays starting January 19, 2011 only on NOVA.

What's Up for December 2010: a lunar eclipse and a trio of planets

A lunar eclipse and a planetary trio grace the morning sky in December 2010.

Discovery of "Arsenic-bug" Expands Definition of Life

NASA Science News for Dec. 2, 2010
Astrobiologists have discovered the first known microorganism on Earth able to thrive and reproduce using the toxic chemical arsenic. The microorganism, which lives in California's Mono Lake, substitutes arsenic for phosphorus in the backbone of its DNA.

FULL STORY at

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/02dec_monolake/