We will not be checking or responding to email during that time.   

We will return emails starting January 5th.   

Have a wonderful holiday and new year!   

Important Dates & Deadlines

• 1-8:  January Coaches Chat 
• 1-12 to 1-25:  Remote Dean’s List Interview Window – Coaches will be emailed in early January re: Dean’s List Interviews 
• 1-17 & 1-18:  Super Qualifying Tournaments 
• 1-31:  State Championship 

FIRST Washington is seeking the community’s opinion on whether to pursue approval as a Career-Technical Student Organization (CTSO) with the State of Washington and OSPI. If your school and/or team could be affected by this decision, we invite you to spend a few minutes letting us know how you might be impacted. For any questions, please reach out to Alida (alidam@firstwa.org). 

https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/7a5a1196d00c45819fdfa2f068014eaa 

Reminder

FIRST Washington’s office is closed for the holidays from 12/24/2025 – 1/2/2026.  If you need any reimbursements from accounting, please get them submitted before 12/24. We will not be responding to emails or processing any reimbursements during this time.

FIRST Washington AI Innovation Video Challenge 

 Did your team explore AI this season? Share your story in a 15–60 second video for the FIRST WA AI Innovation Video Challenge. Top videos will be highlighted across our events and channels. Submit by January 9.  

More info here: https://firstwa.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/AI-Video-Challenge.pdf 

Important Dates & Deadlines

• 1-8:  January Coaches Chat 
• 1-12 to 1-25:  Remote Dean’s List Interview Window – Coaches will be emailed in early January re: Dean’s List Interviews 
• 1-17 & 1-18:  Super Qualifying Tournaments 
• 1-31:  State Championship 

Coaches we need your help.  We had instances at both FLL and FTC events this past weekend where students were very disrespectful toward the venue, hosts and volunteers.  

In an effort to be more proactive, we would appreciate it if you all have a conversation with your students prior to their event where you go over what it means to be Gracious and Professional and how to behave when you are a guest in someone else’s space.   

Most of our participants are outstanding and are not problematic at all but after the incidents this weekend, we thought a reminder would be helpful. 

Urgent!!  Volunteers still needed this weekend! 

We are still in need of volunteers for our FLL Qualifiers happening in December! We are especially in need of adults to fill judging roles. If you are a coach or mentor, judging at an event other than where your students are competing is an amazing way to learn about the process and how to coach your students on exactly what they need to do in their presentation to judges.  

We also need students in various roles – referee, scorekeeper, queuer, and field reset. This is a great way for students to meet their volunteer hour requirement! Here are the events with the greatest need: 

December 13: Federal Way and Shoreline 

December 14: Federal Way, Shoreline, Tacoma, Oak Harbor, and Olympia 

If you are able to help, click here to find an event near you: Search Event 

Inclement Weather 

With Washington FTC and FLL events happening in various regions of the state, we want to provide guidance for all teams traveling to competitions.  

Our events are expected to proceed as planned this weekend. However, we are always monitoring the weather closely. If it is determined that any of these events needs to be canceled, we will update the information no later than 6:30 AM the morning of your event. All participating teams and volunteers will be notified by email as soon as we are able if there is a change in your event status.   

The safety of our teams and volunteers is our top priority at FIRST Washington. Given the geographic diversity of our region and the variability of weather conditions, we rely on coaches, parents, and school districts to make informed decisions about whether to travel. The decision to hold an event or not is made based on the conditions at the venue as well as the host venue’s school policy.  Teams should always prioritize safety and follow their school district’s or team’s safety policies. Coaches are encouraged to assess weather conditions in their area, prioritize participant safety, and adhere to their school district’s policies (if applicable) when deciding whether to attend a scheduled event.  

Please note that in the event of non-attendance, we are unable to provide an alternative option for non-attending teams. Additionally, if an event is canceled due to inclement weather, we may not be able to reschedule. We understand that this may be a difficult decision for some, but we strongly urge all teams to prioritize student safety above all else.  

In the event your team/you (individual volunteer) are unable to attend, please email the correct contact below –  

• FLL Teams: Email Jacque Grimm at jacqueg@firstwa.org Include your team number in the subject line of the email.  

• FTC Teams: Email Adrienne Collins at acollins@firstwa.org Include your team number in the subject line of the email.  

• Volunteers: Email Rhonda McRae at  rhondam@firstwa.org Include your event in the subject line of your email. 

Event Status report:  https://firstwa.org/competitions/  

Dean’s List Nomination Deadline, Monday Dec 15 at 11:59 pm EST 

Each team can nominate up to 2 students in the 10th or 11th grade as a Dean’s List Semi-Finalist. The deadline to submit this season is December 15th at 11:59 pm EST. Late nominations are not accepted (the portal is thorugh FIRST HQ so Kevin & I don’t have the power to accept late nominations) so don’t wait until the last minute.   

You can find more information on the process here:  https://www.firstinspires.org/resources/library/ftc/deans-list  

Remote interviews will be held between 1-12 and 1-25.  For more information on that process, please look at the slide deck from our November 20th coaches chat and/or the recording 

Advancement from State has been released 

Washington has received 16 advancement spots this season 

• 6 teams from the State Championships will advance to the championship event in Houston 

• 10 teams from the State Championship will be given the opportunity to advance to premier events. 

Results from this past weekend’s events

Our Feynman and Pasteur events happened this past weekend with 8 teams from each event advancing to their respective Super Qualifier.   

You can find event results here:  https://ftc-events.firstinspires.org/#allevents  Select Washington as the region and it will filter things down to events within our state. 

Next FTC Coaches Chat is Thursday, January 8th at 7:00 pm

We will be talking about the up coming Super Qualifiers and State as well as doing a high level debrief on the season and how things went. 

To join this meeting click here 

Important Dates & Deadlines

• 1-8:  January Coaches Chat 
• 1-12 to 1-25:  Remote Dean’s List Interview Window – Coaches will be emailed in early January re: Dean’s List Interviews 
• 1-17 & 1-18:  Super Qualifying Tournaments 
• 1-31:  State Championship