Prior Lake 2016 VEX Robotics Tournament

Prior Lake 2016 VEX Robotics Tournament

Todd Swank's Diary Entry for December 18, 2016

On Saturday, we attended the Prior Lake Robotics Middle School VEX tournament.  I'm president of the Prior Lake Robotics booster club so we were there to volunteer for some activities and support our friends running the tournament.

Head Coach Mike Lins and I awarded a plaque to Jen and Dan Walters for their years of service to the VEX program.  Their son, Jackson, is graduating this year so they are turning over the reins to a new coach for next year.  We have been in robotics together for 6 years and it's hard to believe our kids are all done after this year.  Where does the time go?  

Avery received some exciting news this week when he was notified he was accepted to the University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering.  According to their website, they received 13,985 applicants this year and are only accepting 1084 students so we were pretty nervous about his chances prior to being notified.   He's still going to wait to hear from UW Madison before making his final decision, but mom and dad are excited that he may end up going to school so close to home.

Luke also received some good news that he was accepted to the University of Minnesota Duluth.  He's still pretty confident he's going to Minnesota State Mankato, but it's nice he has a couple to choose from now.

On Saturday night, we connected with the Hornbuckle clan for our annual Christmas get together celebration.  We started at the VFW in Minneapolis where we had some luck playing the pull tabs.  Such a good way to celebrate the holidays!

We had dinner at The Herkimer Pub & Brewery.  It was pretty darn good.

We then headed back to the VFW to scream out some karaoke which is one of my favorite activities!  I'm gaining an appreciation for the songs of Stone Temple Pilots.  That Scott Weiland had a pretty raspy voice which works out just about right for me.