Alumni Association Director Glen Arnold, left, and senior Abby Baker visit with '95 graduate Amy Fletcher, seated left and family at the annual Alumni Chili Supper in the LHS cafeteria. Also shown are, seated from right, Robbie Fletcher, Shelby Fletcher, Ireland Fletcher and Mia Fletcher.

The Alumni Association held their 5th annul chili bowl supper last night at the LHS cafeteria, which turned out to be a downturn from last year.

As of now, the Alumni has about $5,000, serving 329 people last night, which is a huge drop from last year, having served over 400 people.  Rowe said there was a big Chamber Banquet the same night as their dinner and they lost a lot of people because of it.

“We are not sure how much money we have as of right now because we are still counting and selling containers of chili for $10,” said Head Director of Relation, Janice Rowe.

The Alumni Association will be holding the chili bowl supper fundraiser again next year in January. They are hoping for a better turnout and that no conflicts will interfere with their sells.

Only 130 out of 514 students applied this year for Alunni Scholarships, a dramatic drop from previous years, according to GO Center Counselor Lyndia Austin.

“This is one of the biggest classes we have had in the past 22 years and not nearly as many students applied as we expected,” Austin said.

Even though there was a low number of applicants, the number of interviews were even lower.

“Out of the low 130 applicants, we only had 101 interviews with students,” Austin said. “That leaves 29 students that did not bother to show up for an interview, or didn’t sign up for one.”

This interview gives the Alumni Association time to see what the applicants have ahead of them.

“They  usually have so many applicants that they have to find reasons to eliminate some,” Austin said. “But with a smaller group of applicants, they found it to be a little bit harder because all of them have so much to offer.”

Even though the amount of high school applicants is small, the previous students make up for the size.

“We have 62 college students who have applied again for the alumni scholarship, and we want to help them stay in college,” said Janice Ann Rowe of the LHS Alumni Association.

Rowe also said that the number of students coming back for scholarships is increasing.

“Each year we have at least a 10 percent increase in college students that continue to apply for the alumni scholarship,” Rowe said.

The Alumni Association is trying to give money to the students that do not receive money from the Pell Grant.

“The reason we ask for proof of EFC is because we want to try to help those students that are not receiving any government funding for college,” Rowe said.

The Alumni Association has been helping aspiring college students since 1986.

“We have given over $1,060,865 in over 22 years for a total of 1,105 scholarships,” Rowe said.

A smile spread across Dr. Steve Collins’ face as he and his team looked upon their completed research project, a program developing fuel powered artificial muscles for robotic soldiers.

Collins was once a LHS student, and is a class graduate of 1989. He is now working at the NanoTech Institute, a nanotechnology research center.

“If the NanoTech Institute was a company, I would be vice president and CFO,” Collins said. “Besides being a staff scientist, I run the day to day operations of the institute, and am physically responsible for budgeting, planning, and reporting to our funding agencies.”

Although Collins may now have a job requires leadership and also entails a great deal of responsibility, he didn’t start out there.

“I started working as a postdoctoral researcher with Ray Baughmen when he came to UTD in the fall of 2001,” Collins said. “At that time I was a new Ph.D. graduate and was afforded an extraordinary opportunity to work in the newly formed NanoTech Institute at UTD.”

In less then twenty years, Collins has worked with men and women from countries around the world, such as Italy, Brazil, Japan, South Korea, China, Uzbekistan and many others on nanotechnology projects for the Army, Navy, NASA and many other organizations.

“At any given time we are working on a variety of programs, most of them dealing with novel ways to store and harvest energy,” Collins said. “The bulk of our research funding comes from agencies like NASA, DOD, DOE, and the Air Force, so while I can’t say much about the specifics of our research, I will say it is never dull and it is always cutting edge.”

Collins and his team work on projects that little kids often dream up, like the robotic soldiers, or one of their new projects, the robotic jellyfish.

“We are currently working on robotic jellyfish for the Navy, which can roam the oceans of the world collecting useful information,” Collins said.

Although he works on many projects such as the jellyfish and robotics, Collins is also working on nanotechnology projects that will hopefully help improve the economy as well.

“Well, you don’t have to look much further than the gas pump to see we are having somewhat of an energy crisis,” Collins said. “Increasing the efficiency of fuel cells and solar cells, storing and using hydrogen as a fuel source, and building better batteries are becoming increasingly more important.”

Although the research projects are the main part of Collins’ job, he also hopes to teach and inspire the younger generation of scientists to come.

“We are a university based research institute, so our fundamental goal is to train the next generation of scientists and engineers,” Collins said. “We work to function as an engine of economic and scientific growth that eliminates the normal disciplinary barriers that impede the transition from fundamental science to technology.”

Collins recommends students wishing to work in this field to study many different topics in school, not just sciences.

“Students wanting to work in nanotechnology should study biology, physics, chemistry, engineering, material science, and even business in undergraduate school,” Collins said. “Nanotechnology is all about the “size” of what we are working on, and not particularly the “what”.”