Articles from November 2018

11/12/18 – For Immediate Release

The Dubuque Schools Robotics Club will host its first robotics competition of the year on Saturday, Nov. 17, at Dubuque Senior High School’s Nora Gymnasium. Matches in the event, which is part of the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC), will begin at approximately 9:30 a.m. MEDIA ARE INVITED TO COVER THIS EVENT.

Funding for this club, which will have two teams competing on November 17, is generously provided by the McDonough Foundation and Tom Preston-Werner, with both gifts facilitated by the Foundation for Dubuque Public Schools.

According to the FIRST website, FIRST Tech Challenge “are challenged to design, build, program, and operate robots to compete in a head-to-head challenge in an alliance format.” The teams are guided by adult mentors and develop science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills while also doing community outreach, fundraising and marketing for their team.

The student club, which began three years ago, consists of nearly 25 high-school students from Dubuque Senior High School, Hempstead High School and the Alta Vista Campus who meet multiple times each week to practice and prepare.

“FIRST Tech Challenge is more than just robots,” said Ann Arnold, a math teacher and one of the team’s coaches. “Our students learn gracious professionalism, teamwork, collaboration, and real-life 21st-century skills while designing, building, programming and competing with their robots.”

Chris Burke

Christopher Burke, an 11-year teaching veteran who uses real-world examples to make his mathematics lessons come alive, is the Iowa Department of Education’s 2019 Teacher of the Year, Gov. Kim Reynolds announced today at Dubuque’s Eleanor Roosevelt Middle School.

“Chris Burke exemplifies the great teaching that is taking place in Iowa schools,” said Gov. Reynolds. “His passion for inspiring students to learn math in a real-world context and his enthusiasm for serving as a coach outside the school day underscore the extraordinary commitment of educators in communities across our state.”

Burke, 35, who is also a teacher leader at the middle school, is one of many educators in his family, including his wife, mother and sister. His wife, Betsy, also teaches at Roosevelt.

In the program’s 60-year history, this is the first time a Dubuque teacher has received the Teacher of the Year award.
Read More about “Roosevelt Teacher Named 2019 Iowa Teacher of the Year”