There is a lot of information in this blog and over the next several weeks, we will be highlighting a lot of changes to the season and schedule in Washington. It is critical you read the entire blog.
FTC Kickoff September 7th
Once again, we will have multiple kickoffs around the state! Below are the different kickoff locations and a bit of info about what the day will look like at each location. Please take a moment to register. As we get closer to the event, more info will go out to teams that have registered for each kickoff. If you don’t register, you may miss out on critical information.
- Auburn High School 711 E Main St. Auburn, WA 98002
- BrickCon 2024! Meydenbauer Center 11100 NE 6th St. Bellevue, WA 98004
- Hanford High School 450 Hanford St. Richland, WA 99354
- Olympia High School 1302 N. St SE, Olympia, WA 98501
- Ridgeline High School 20150 E. Country Vista Dr. Liberty Lake, WA 98019
Please fill out this form to register your team if you plan to attend an in person kickoff (There is Scheule information about each kickoff on the form). It’s important to register if you plan to attend so the event host can send you important information regarding your specific kickoff event.
Important OSPI Grant Information
If you are a Washington State public school or Tribal Compact school, you are eligible for the OSPI grant!
We have made a lot of improvements to the grant system for the upcoming year and are excited to share them with you!
- The grant will open August 28th and close Friday, Sept 20 (remember, late grants will not be accepted so please make sure your grant is submitted by September 20)
- We now have one link to the grant for all 3 programs. Click here to stay updated and find the application link.
- There is now the ability to add collaborators so more than one person can have access to the grant.
- If you are interested in using the collaborator function, be sure to attend our OSPI meeting on September 10th at 7 pm. We will be going over how to set this up in detail on this meeting.
- Team #’s and payment info will be entered on the application itself, not after the application has been submitted.
- To receive funding, teams must be registered both with FIRST Inspires (which means your registration for the current season with FIRST Inspires must be paid or secured with a PO) and FIRST Washington.
For those who are new to filling out this grant or have questions, we will be holding an information meeting on Tuesday, September 10th at 7 pm. Feel free to share this link with any adult you are working with as a coach to fill out our OSPI grant. This meeting is not for students or parents on your team, and we will only be addressing questions that relate to the OSPI grant (If you have questions about your specific program, please attend your program specific coaches chat.)
Coaches Chat – Tuesday, September 17 at 7:00pm
Because of all the changes this year, we will be having our first Coaches Chat a bit earlier than usual this year. I encourage everyone to have at least one adult in attendance as we talk about important changes (both with FIRST and FIRST Washington) and go over the schedule for the season.
Feel free to share this coaches chat link with any adult you would like to attend.
Important Dates & Deadlines
- August 19: FIRST Washington Registration opens
- August 28: OSPI Grant opens
- September 7: FTC Kickoff
- September 10: OSPI Informational Meeting
- September 17: FTC Coaches Chat
- September 20: OSPI Grant Closes
- September 27: FIRST Washington Grant closes (part of registration)
- October 1: FTC home league assignments posted (based on 9-27 Registration)
- October 1: League preferencing Window opens
- October 4: FIRST Washington invoices sent to the designated team contact
- October 9: League preferencing window closes
- October 11: Updated league assignments posted
- October 15: FTC Coaches Chat
- October 18: Deadline to secure FIRST Washington registration
- October 26 – November 24: League Event Window
- November 19: FTC Coaches Chat
- December 7-22: Interleague event window
- January 11-12: Semi Final event window
- State TBD at this time