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FTC Blog Volume 8 – FTC Build day Oct 14th

by | Oct 5, 2023 | FTC

FTC Blog Volume 8 – FTC Build day Oct 14th

Washing State Public & Tribal Compact Schools

Be sure to log onto your dashboard and fill out your team and payment information.  It is important that this information be filled out by Friday, October 6.

Teams Form:
This is asking you for information related to the team(s) at your school. We are considering additional funding for schools with more than one team registered with FIRST Washington. As a result, we need you to enter the teams you have registered with FIRST Washington and commit to having those teams compete to receive that additional funding.  If you are waiting to complete your payment with firstinspires, and are a rookie team, please enter the temporary number you received when starting your registration.

Payment Information:
This form is asking 3 things:

    • Who your check should made out to (School District or School Building, ASB School Cashier)
    • Address the check should be mailed to
    • Whose Attention the email should be sent to

*** It is your responsibility to know what your district’s policies are regarding receiving grant funds. If you are unsure how to fill out this information, please contact your administration to find out what you should do. WE CANNOT ADVISE YOU ON WHO CHECKS SHOULD ME MADE OUT TO BECAUSE EVERY DISTRICT HAS A DIFFERENT POLICY. ***

To access these forms, the profile user must login and you must click on the square with the school’s name inside of the link that was sent to you. The additional forms will appear there. Please take notice of the fact that it no longer says IN REVIEW and is now blue and says PRE-AWARD INTAKE.

We recognize these are some extra steps but ask for your patience as we work through the process.  This is new for us as well as you and we are learning as we go.

Click Here

League Assignments should be posted by October 13

It looks like we may have 171 FTC teams participating with us this season which is amazing!!!!

Kevin Emery and I will be working to put all teams into existing leagues (and create some new ones) and we plan to have that info posted on firstwa.org by October 13

 

FTC Build Day, October 14

As mentioned on our coaches chat, we will be having an FTC build day at our fieldhouse in Kent on Saturday, October 14.  This is an opportunity for teams to bring their robot (or robot parts) and collaborate with other teams while working on their robot.  Additionally, we will have a copmetition field set up for teams to practice on (if they are to that point)  The build day is really an open house format but we are asking teams to register.  Out of respect for our volunteers time, if we don’t have enough interest, we will cancel the build day.

 

Details and sign up is below:

  • Who:  Any rookie or veteran FTC team
  • What:  FTC Build Day
  • When:  October 14, 10 am – 3:00 pm
  • Where: FIRST Washington Fieldhouse – 22426 72nd Ave. S. Kent, WA 98032

Teams are required to register.  It is important for you to put your arrival time, an estimate for the number of students is just fine.

FTC Build Day Registration

FRC Blog Volume 7 – 2nd event preferencing starts this today at 9 am

by | Oct 5, 2023 | FRC

FRC Blog Volume 7 – 2nd event preferencing starts this today at 9 am

Washington State Public & Tribal Compact Schools

Be sure to log onto your dashboard and fill out your team and payment information.  It is important that this information be filled out by Friday, October 6.

Teams Form:
This is asking you for information related to the team(s) at your school. We are considering additional funding for schools with more than one team registered with FIRST Washington. As a result, we need you to enter the teams you have registered with FIRST Washington and commit to having those teams compete to receive that additional funding.  If you are waiting to complete your payment with firstinspires, and are a rookie team, please enter the temporary number you received when starting your registration.

Payment Information:
This form is asking 3 things:

    • Who your check should made out to (School District or School Building, ASB School Cashier)
    • Address the check should be mailed to
    • Whose Attention the email should be sent to

*** It is your responsibility to know what your district’s policies are regarding receiving grant funds. If you are unsure how to fill out this information, please contact your administration to find out what you should do. WE CANNOT ADVISE YOU ON WHO CHECKS SHOULD ME MADE OUT TO BECAUSE EVERY DISTRICT HAS A DIFFERENT POLICY. ***

To access these forms, the profile user must login and you must click on the square with the school’s name inside of the link that was sent to you. The additional forms will appear there. Please take notice of the fact that it no longer says IN REVIEW and is now blue and says PRE-AWARD INTAKE.

We recognize these are some extra steps but ask for your patience as we work through the process.  This is new for us as well as you and we are learning as we go.  

Click here

2nd round of Event preferencing opens at 9 am Today, Oct 5

 

Log into your dash board on firstinspires.org to select your preferences for your first event

Remember:

  1.  You are no longer guaranteed a spot in your home event.
  2. We currently have 127 teams registered this year (which is SO exciting!) and are expecting a few more so space will be tight.  Many of you will end up on the waitlist for your events after this round of preferencing.  I will be prioritizing moving our rookie teams into their events first so if you are a veteran team, you may not hear from me until Monday, October 16 about your event options.  Thanks for being patient and letting me take care of our new teams!

 

 

 

2023 FRC Workshops – hosted by 2557 SOTAbots

 

Location :  Science and Math Institiute Environmental Learning Center, Point Defiance Zoo, Tacoma

Date: November 18, 2023

Time: 9:00 – 3:30

Lunch:  $5 – sign up onsite

Call for Presenters : 

  • It is always great to see new faces presenting on topics of interest to all. 
  • Please send your presentation Title, a short description and time needed ( 1 or 2 hours) to the following email     sotabots@gmail.com
  • Please have your proposals in by October 31 at the latest.

FRC Blog Volume 6 – Important Deadlines this week

by | Sep 26, 2023 | FRC, Uncategorized

FRC Blog Volume 6 – Important Deadlines this week

OSPI Grant Closes Friday, September 29 at 5 pm

If you are a Washington State Public or Tribal Compact school then you are eligible for the OSPI Grant.

FIRST Washington is now administering this grant and has worked hard to simplify the process as well as make the funding available to schools as soon as possible.

Make sure you fill out the grant application by the Friday deadline

Click here

Event preferencing closes at 9 am Thursday, Sept 28

 

Event preferencing is happening now.

 

Log into your dash board on firstinspires.org to select your preferences for your first event

Remember:

  1.  You are guaranteed a spot in your home event.
  2. Because we have to leave space for teams to get into their home event, if you register for an event other than your home event, you will likely end up on a waitlist on Friday, Sept 29 when events are released.  Do not email me if you end up on a wait list, I will not respond.  What I will be doing is working with FIRST to move everyone off.  If you are still on a waitlist after we have made all of the adjustments, I will contact you on Monday, October 29.

 

 

 

Register your team with PNW FIRST

 

Less than half of our teams have filled out the PNW Registration.

You must do this by Sept 30 to be considered for a FIRST Washington grant.

Both Washington and Oregon teams must fill out this registration form every year.

Make both of our lives easier, do this now so I don’t have to pester you later in the week 🙂

 

Click here to register

FTC Blog Volume 7 – Some important deadlines this week

by | Sep 26, 2023 | FTC, Uncategorized

FTC Blog Volume 7 – Some important deadlines this week

OSPI Grant Closes Friday, September 29

If you are a Washington State Public or Tribal Compact school then you are eligible for the OSPI Grant.

FIRST Washington is now administering this grant and has worked hard to simplify the process as well as make the funding available to schools as soon as possible.

Make sure you fill out the grant application by the Friday deadline. Late submissions will not be accepted.

Click Here to Register for/Attend Coaches Chat

Register with FIRST Washington by Saturday, Sept 30

There are several reasons you should register your team with FIRST Washington by this Friday

  1. To be sure you get a spot in the league closest to your team
  2. To be eligible to receive funding to lower your FIRST Washington reistration.

To see if your team is registered, follow this link:  https://firstwa.org/ftc-team-status/

If you do not see your team # on this list, than your team is not registered with FIRST Washington.

 

Make both of our lives easier and just do it now so I don’t have to pester you 🙂

FIRSTWA Registration

FRC Blog Volume 5 – Coaches Chat this Thursday at 7 pm!

by | Sep 19, 2023 | FRC, Uncategorized

FRC Blog Volume 5 – Coaches Chat this Thursday at 7 pm!

FIRST FRC Coaches Chat is This Thursday, Sept 21 at 7:00 pm

We will go over many things in this first coaches chat.  There is a lot of info in this first meeting.  Make sure you have a coach or mentor attend. 

  • Overview of the season
  • Important Dates & Deadlines
  • Registration with both FIRST and FIRST Washington
  • Grants and funding for teams
    • Grants through FIRST
    • FIRST Washington Grants
    • OSPI Grant
  • Event preferencing, what it is and how it works

To register for/attend this meeting, click the button below:

Click here

Make sure your team is prepared for District and Event Registration on Thursday

Make sure you are event ready on your firstinspires dashboard

 

To be able to enter your event preferencs during the first event preferencing window (Sept 21-28) your team needs to be event ready.

What does this mean?

  1. You need to have two coaches listed on your firstinspires dashboard
  2. Your main and alternate coaches need to sign their consent forms
  3. Both your main and alternate contacts need to be through youth protection screening

Once your team is event ready, wait to make any coaching changes until after you have registered for your first and second district events.

 

 

Register your team with PNW FIRST

 

You need to register with FIRST Washington by September 30th to be considered for funding to

  • Lower your FIRST Washington registration
  • To be guaranteed a spot in the league closest to you
  • To receive OSPI funding (if you are a public/tribal school)

Don’t wait, click the button below to do this now!

Click Here