(March 8, 2012) — On the morning of March 3, five members of the Team 696 Circuit Breakers gathered at the engineering lab in preparation for a mini-maker faire to be held at South Pasadena High School. The team, still recovering from a frantic six-week build season, spent a day showing off their hard work to a variety of awed students as well as educating interested kids about robotics and the FIRST Robotics program. “I think it’s great that young children are involved in science, technology, engineering and math,” said Robotics president Will Spurgeon. The team presented last year’s robot, Reptar, to over 100 students who were also participating in a “Destination Imagination” program, a creative problem-solving event occurring simultaneously. The robot drove around the campus and threw inflatable tubes into crowds of excited elementary and middle school students. “I wanted to share technology with a younger generation and foster a new generation of kids who understand the value of a technical education,” said junior Corey Hoard. The mini-maker faire, an event intended to share interesting technology and do-it-yourself projects, also provided team members with a chance to learn. Among other things presented at the school were a three-dimensional printer and an electronic plant monitoring station. The Circuit Breakers did not manage to get rest after the event, as the team woke up early the next morning in order to attend the San Diego regional competition. Although the team did not participate in this competition, it provided them with a good way to look at some of the tough competition they would be facing in Long Beach March 15-17. “We saw lots of different strategies some of which we didn’t think of,” said Spurgeon. “It gave us ideas for how to compete in Long Beach.”