Students at Bullock Creek High School in Midland, Michigan found an unusual way to raise money for their robotics team.

Every year, 28 students on the Blitz Creek team take part in a national robotics competition, where students are challenged to create a robot that can perform certain tasks. They design robots, and write the programs that run them.

But building robots isn’t cheap. Maxton Herst joined the team in the ninth grade, and later he became the captain of the robotics team. By accident, Maxton Herst saw a video about a toilet paper pyramid. Maxton realized that it was possible to build a record-setting pyramid, and then sell the toilet paper to get money for their program. All the team members agreed to try his idea.

Blitz Creek has been planning the pyramid since last May. One challenge was calculating (计算) how many rolls of paper were needed. The answer turned out to be 27,434.

In late December, team members gave up part of their winter holiday to build the pyramid. The pyramid was so big that they had to build it from the inside before backing out and filling in the areas where they had been standing. It took about 16 hours, with many people working, which is about 61 centimeters taller than the current (当前的) Guinness World Record.

The pyramid opened for viewing on January 4, 2020. Sadly, because the pyramid was in the school’s front hall, it could only stay for three days. With all the excitement caused by the pyramid, it turned out to be fairly easy to sell the toilet paper. Many supporters did help. Families and teachers bought half of the paper. A large company bought the rest. The team made about ＄10,000 from the event, which will help pay for its activities.

Maxton talks about the success of his crazy idea. “If you’ve got an idea, and you know that this idea is good, push it,” he says. “Don’t stop.”

Recently some houses in our community have been broken into. I would like to give you some suggestions about how to prevent from stealing (盗窃).

First, let’s talk about lighting. We should turn on the outside lights at night. Inside the house, it’s a good idea to put automatic timers (自动定时器) on lights. When you are out, it will still look like someone is at home. If you live in an apartment building, make sure that there’s good lighting in the garage and in the hallways.

Next, let’s talk about locks. First of all, cheap locks are not safe. You should buy special locks to lock your doors and windows. Remember to lock your doors and windows, even when you leave for just a minute. Did you know that half of the thieves break in through unlocked doors and windows?

My next suggestion is not to keep lots of money in the house. It’s wise to put your money in a bank. You should put marks on your other valuables, like television, stereos and cameras, so that the police can return them to you if they are found.