Over 100 of the top yo-yo competitors will compete in the 20th Annual Bay Area Classic Yo Yo Contest on Saturday, June 3, 2017, from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm. The free to view Contest will be held at the Children’s Discovery Museum.

Contest Schedule:
9:00 AM – 12:30: Prelims
12:30 – 1:00 PM: Break / On Stage Demo’s
1:00 – 4:00 PM: Finals, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A, 1A (in this order)
4:00 – 5:00 PM: Awards

Bay Area Classic Yo-Yo Contest 2017
Children’s Discovery Museum
180 Woz Way
San Jose, 95110

Admission to the contest is free

Public parking ($5-$7) available in lots on Woz Way, Auzerais Street, and Almaden Boulevard. Additional downtown parking information.

Public Transit information.

The 33rd Annual Santa Cruz Longboard Union Longboard Invitational is this weekend, May 27-28, 2017.
Nearly 200 Longboarders take over Steamer Lane each Memorial Day weekend to compete in the longest-running longboard surf contest on the West Coast.

Santa Cruz Longboard Surf Contest
700 West Cliff Drive http://goo.gl/maps/UsYEDmCH6Nm
Santa Cruz, 95060

Approximate times:
Saturday (5/27) from 6:30 am to 5:00 pm
Sunday (5/28) from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm

Free to watch from the shore

Hundreds of teams of students from grades 5-6 and 9-12 put their original innovations the test today, the first day of competition at The Tech Challenge 2014 presented by Cisco, the Bay Area’s largest youth design-challenge competition. The “Bad News Bears” team  of five from St. Martin of Tours first place for “Best Overall Solution” and emphasized perseverance and thinking big as keys to success, “No matter how big the challenge, if you work hard, anything is possible,” said Connor Hearney, 11. Teammate Michael Woo, 11, echoed the same sentiment, “Every problem has a solution.”

The two-day event concludes Sunday, April 13 when students in grades 7-8 take the stage and present their creative devices.

“One of The Tech’s deepest beliefs is that everyone is born to be a problem solver,” said Museum President Tim Ritchie. “The Tech Challenge gives participants an opportunity to experience and show how innovative they can be.”

Every year, the annual team design-challenge presents participants with a hands-on project geared to solving a real-world problem. This year’s challenge, Harnessing the Wind, saw students use the power of wind to move water to the people who need it most. Participants revealed their entrepreneurial spirits and tried their hand at utilizing the wind as a plausible solution to lowering the total energy consumption in the moving and processing of water.

The Tech Challenge, a signature program of The Tech, provides months of team learning in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), and reinforces 21st-century skills of creativity, problem solving, design, teamwork, leadership, presentation, risk-taking, perseverance, and learning from failure.

“The ingenuity and commitment exemplified by students at The Tech Challenge is extraordinary,” said Jessica Graham, Cisco’s Community Relations Manager. “Our Cisco volunteers here today welcome the opportunity to inspire the next generation of innovators.”

In all, 1,200 students stepped up to the challenge to use the renewable energy source for this year’s competition now in its 27th year. Teams competed for several titles ranging from “Most Sustainable” to “Best Engineering Design” to “Best Prototyping.” Every participant also received a medal, T-shirt, water bottle, and team photo for their hard work, ingenuity and dedication.

For decades, The Tech Challenge has allowed some 13,500 young girls and boys throughout California and other regions to hone their creativity and innovation on a variety of scenarios including building devices to explore Mars craters, fight wildfires, rescue earthquake victims, collect samples in the rainforest, and last year to deploy instruments to an asteroid.

The top award – “Best Overall Solution” – was awarded to three teams in each of the 5th-6th and 9th-12th grade divisions. Best Overall Solution encompasses device performance, engineering and design, style and presentation, and the scientific process. AND THE 2014 WINNERS ARE…

5th-6th grade Division

1st Place

• Bad News Bears
• Team # 133
•  St. Martin of Tours

2nd Place

• FOuR the WINdz 
• Team # 15
•  John Sinnott Elementary School

3rd Place

• iSolve
• Team # 372
• Carden Day School of San Jose, Hyde Middle School, and Kennedy Middle school in Cupertino

9th-12th grade Division

1st Place

• H2I – Happy to Innovate
• Team # 72
•  Fremont Home School Team

2nd Place

• The Airbenders
• Team # 322
• Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula

3rd Place

• MEKTech
• Team # 0
• Head-Royce School

Other teams took home prizes for their achievement in Engineering Design, Spirit, Device Performance, Sportsmanship and Best Use of Cardboard and Duct Tape. View the complete list of winners.

For more information on The Tech Challenge, visit: thetechchallenge.thetech.org/

2014 The Tech Challenge sponsors

Presenting

• Cisco Systems, Inc.

Innovator

•  Aruba Networks
•  SAP 

Founding

• EMC2
• Intel
•  Motorola Solutions Foundation 

Principal

• Fairchild Semiconductor
• Lockheed Martin
• TE Connectivity

About The Tech Museum of Innovation
The Tech is a hands-on technology and science museum for people of all ages and backgrounds. The museum—located in the Capital of Silicon Valley —is a non-profit, experiential learning resource established to engage people in exploring and experiencing applied technologies affecting their lives. Through programs such as The Tech Challenge presented by Cisco, our annual team-design competition for youth, and internationally renowned program to honor technology benefiting humanity, The Tech Awards presented by Applied Materials, The Tech endeavors to inspire the innovator in everyone.

San Jose Jazz still has one more act to book for the upcoming Summer Fest. They need an opener for Monophonics and Morris Day and the Time, playing on the main stage on Friday night, August 10, and they’re holding a contest on Facebook to find that band.

They’re looking for a “Neo Soul, Soul (not hip hop), Rhythm & Blues, Funk, and/or New Orleans Rhythm & Blues” act, with six or fewer members, and able to provide their own transportation to the event. The winning band will be chosen by public votes on the San Jose Jazz Facebook page. The winners will play a 45 minute set, and be paid $500 for their trouble. Applicants should submit an audition video (either YouTube or Vimeo) to the San Jose Jazz Facebook page by July 23.

To vote on your favorite band, you need to “Like” San Jose Jazz on Facebook, then visit their page to see the entries. Voting will be open from July 23 to 27.

I stopped in at Dick’s Bakery because I just needed a square of Burnt Almond cake.

While there I noticed a now familiar face. Posted on the glass refrigerator door above the sign reading, ‘Please Do Not Slam Door! I Am 53 Years Young” was a picture of American Idol contestant DeAndre.

The picture reading: Good Luck DeAndre!

Don’t forget to watch and vote for DeAndre
On American Idol !
Wednesday at 8pm

Phillip Phillips is my favorite, but it will be hard not to cast my vote for our local Oak Grove High School student.

This Friday and Saturday, October 22-23, students from thirty-six Northern California high school Robotics teams compete at the Western Region Robotics Forum’s CalGames 2010 Robotics Competition held at Lynbrook High School in San Jose.

The CalGames 2010 Robotics Competition is a contest between 36 teams of high school students to build full-sized robots each weighing up to 140 lbs and are capable of going over 15 feet per second that attempt to score goals with soccer balls while maneuvering over bumps and through tunnels.

The Western Region Robotics Forum (WRRF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the use of robotics and providing support for the Bay Area FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) robotics teams. WRRF recently conducted a series of workshops for FIRST teams covering a wide range of subjects, including team management, electronics, machine vision, computer animation, drive train design, and software development. Students discover the value of education and careers in science, technology, and math.

Lynbrook High School
1280 Johnson Avenue
San Jose, 95129

Friday, October 22, 2010
6:00 pm to 7:15 pm: Qualifying

Saturday, October 23, 2010
8:00 am to 1:00 pm: Qualifying
2:00 pm to 6:00 pm: Playoffs & Awards

Admission: Free

Let The Dogs Out

Oh dogs, all they really want is to get out and have fun. And they can, at the K9-Karnival while enjoying the contests and the demonstrations.

April 24 at the Kirk Community Center, 1601 Foxworthy Ave 95118.

Events will begin at 9:30 AM and conclude at 12:30 PM.

Admission is $5.00 for dogs and free for their human companions. I believe that food may be available (for both?), but I’m not sure if it is free.

Please call the Willow Glen Community Center, 448-6400, for more information.

Roofline of the San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin (1937)

If you’re a photographer and interested in San Jose history, this is for you. The San Jose Historic Landmark Commission is holding a photography contest for Historic Preservation Month (May). Only a few details have been announced: its not clear whether the photos are going to be judged solely on artistic grounds, or what other criteria come into play; there are “cash awards”, but they don’t say the amount; and so on. The main prize for the winners is to see your photos presented on monitors around City Hall.

Despite the minimal details available, if you have some good photos of historical San Jose buildings, and you’re willing to take a chance, this could be a fun contest to join. You might even want to send in a photo of a historic building that’s no longer with us (but maybe use the Houghton-Donner house instead of Coconut Willie’s)

The entry deadline is May 1. See the contest website for more details and entry instructions.

(thanks to Eric at NNASJ for this story)

The new Willow Glen Lions Club held its first annual high school speech contest on 21 February. For more about that event, read my blog entry called Willow Glen Lions Speakers’ Contest.

Our club champion, Sara Cois of Presentation High School in San Jose went on to speak at the Area-level contest, at the Saratoga Library. Here is Jim Isaacson’s description of that 5 March contest:

The contestant from the Willow Glen Lions Club contest, Sara Cois, competed very well with three other students but did not place first. The four contestants were very close in the scoring and gave interesting perspectives on the topic of “Universal Health Care, How Will it Affect Us?”. Their variations in speech styles added to the challenges the judges faced in scoring the contestants. Three speakers, including Sara, are Seniors and the fourth is a Sophomore. The speaker advancing to the Region 1 contest is from Leland High School and initially won at the Almaden Super Lions club contest.

…The next competition level, Region 1, Student Speakers contest will be held Tuesday March 23, 6:30 PM, at The Atrium at San Jose. All contests are open to all Lions and the public.

The Lions Youth Exchange Program and Lions International Peace Poster Contest along with the Student Speakers Contest are all efforts where Lions make a difference, and in addition, we are helping youth develop into adults who will also make a difference.

Pictures from the Willow Glen Contest

Images Copyright 2010 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher

Symphony Silicon Valley Chorale and soloist Michelle Jordan in a previous performance.

Unfortunately there’s only two free tickets, and you have to take a short survey to be entered in the drawing to win them. The deadline to enter is March 6.

The tickets are for the Friday, March 19, performance, Festival of Choirs: American Roots, featuring Will Todd‘s Mass in Blue. Mass in Blue is a jazz setting of the Latin mass, billed as “a brilliant blend of driving jazz rhythms, rich tonal colors, and groovy melodies”. Soloist Renee Calvo stars alongside Symphony Silicon Valley Chorale in this presentation. The second half of the evening will be given over to a set of African-American spirituals with East Bay-based soloist Michelle Jordan, and additional selections of 19th and 20th century folk music and musical theater. Several guest choirs will join the Symphony Silicon Valley Chorale for the later pieces.

For those of us not lucky enough to win free tickets, seats are $25 each. The performance begins at 8:00 pm at the California Theater, 345 South First Street.