Razor’s Edge: HRVHS robotics team success speaks well for the entire program

This concept comes to our attention courtesy of the team Occam’s Razor, the winning First Lego Championship team from Hood River Valley High School. Congratulations to this bright and hard-working group of young people who named themselves after a scientific principle celebrating simplicity, and proved themselves at the State FTC tournament in Portland. Occam’s Razor earned the right to compete in the SuperQualifier in Oakland, Calif., next month. Their success is a reflection of what is now a decade-old tradition in local schools, the robotics programs that bring together the creative and cooperative spirits at the elementary, middle and high school levels throughout the Gorge. Local students have had fun and learned valuable lessons (or taught them to each other) in problem-solving, team-work and application of scientific principles under the tutelage of Jeff Blackman, HRVHS engineering teacher, and dozens of dedicated parents and other volunteers, many of them hailing from the local engineering and science communities.

Further congratulations to four HRVHS students who were among 16 nominated for the FTC Dean’s Award: Elizabeth Bailey and Melissa Nardone of Steelheads in Pink, and Michael McAllister and Joey Slover from Men in Green.

FTC describes the Dean’s List students as those who “are great examples of student leaders who have led their teams and communities to increased awareness for FTC and its mission. These students have also achieved personal technical expertise and accomplishment. It is the intention of (FTC) that these individuals will continue on, post-award, as great leaders, student alumni, and advocates of.”

What is “Occam’s Razor? According to Wikipedia, it is that principle from philosophy, often used in science, “that supposes there exist two explanations for an occurrence. In this case the simpler one is usually better. Another way of saying it is that the more assumptions you have to make, the more unlikely an explanation is. Occam’s razor applies especially in the philosophy of science, but also more generally.”

William of Ockham supposedly wrote it in Latin as:

Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem — More things should not be used than are necessary.

Leave it to a group of smart high school students to give us all the simple chance to learn something new.