🌱 Drake State Offers Training Programs + Rival Teams Collab

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Now, today's weather:

Periods of rain. High: 58 Low: 46.

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Here are the top three stories today in Huntsville:

1. Drake State Community and Technical College will be offering free programs this month to assist both high school students and locals looking for work. The Drake State Elite Training Camp is an opportunity for high school students to learn about STEM careers — including machining, systems engineering, drones, engineering design, welding, and robotics. Elite Training Camp events will last a day each on Apr. 15 and 20. Drake State is also providing a free certificate program for fiber optic fusion splicing in collaboration with Amazon. (WHNT News 19)
2. In a show of sportsmanship, Rockets Team 34 from the Limestone County Career Technical Center let incoming Brazilian competitors use their facilities to assemble their robots. Because of how the Brazilian Robots Team arrived in Alabama for the FIRST Robotics Competition, they had to disassemble their robot and then put it back together on-site. Rockets Team 34 lent their classroom to their old rivals after finishing up their own work. Mentor Monica Hobson added, "Earlier in the season, they reached out to our students about coming to Huntsville for competition and mentioned that they would need somewhere to reassemble their robot prior to competition ... We offered our facilities and assistance with this. We’ve been so excited about welcoming them to beautiful Limestone County." (News Courier)
3. The Garnett County family of slain Huntsville PD officer Garrett Crumby is speaking out about the circumstances surrounding his death. Crumby was shot and killed in the line of duty while responding to a shots-fired call in Huntsville that injured a woman. His surviving sisters have authored an op-ed against the repeated release of violent offenders, and spoken out about the late Crumby's own concern about release policies after the death of Tuscaloosa officer Dornell Cousette in 2019, when Crumby was also a TPD policeman. (WBRC)

From our sponsor:

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Today in Huntsville:

• Spring Plein Air Art Event - At The Huntsville Botanical Garden (9:00 AM)
• Plant A Pot: Container Design | In-Person class - At The Huntsville Botanical Garden (10:00 AM)

From my notebook:

• Down the way in Decatur, two new police graduates are joining the force, with congratulations from their local PD! Officers Cameron Oliver and Kevin Turner finished their Alabama Law Enforcement Academy training on Apr. 6. (Decatur Police Department Alabama via Facebook)
• Look out! The Panoply Art Festival — a collaboration between Arts Huntsville and Mazda Toyota Manufacturing — is on the way at the end of the month. It will run from Apr. 28-30 in Big Spring Park. Tickets are now available. (Arts Huntsville via Facebook)

As a heads up, the Patch staff will be taking some time off for the Easter holiday. You won’t be receiving a newsletter this Monday, but I’ll be back soon with your next update. In the meantime, have a great weekend!

— Sean Peek

About me: Sean Peek is a writer and entrepreneur with a degree in English Literature from Weber State University. Over the years, he has worked as a copywriter, editor, SEO specialist, and marketing director for various digital media companies. He currently co-owns and operates content creation agency Lightning Media Partners.