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FLL UNEARTHED Blog: Volume 22

by | Feb 4, 2026 | FLL, FLL Challenge, FLL Explore

In this weeks Blog

Season Recap

Open Invitational 

Explore Events

Message from the Finance Department 

Make sure you read the entire blog!

Season Info

Congratulations Challenge teams!

Congratulations to all the teams that participated in FLL Challenge this season!

For perspective-

We held-

  • 22 Qualifiers
  • 4 Semifinals
  • 2 State Championships

There were 550 Challenge teams competing in events this season!

Your teams should be very proud of what they have accomplished this season!

I look forward to seeing what they come up with next season!

Open Invitational Lottery

The Champions award finalist teams (one from East and one from West) will get first choice out of the below FLL Open Events.

Once the finalists have chosen, the remaining open spots will be available for signups to the award winning teams from the 2 state championships.

Teams will be selected at random for each event going in the order of the list below, so make sure you only choose events you can/want to actually attend.

If there are remaining spots, the sign up will open to teams that attended the state events.

  • Canada Cup of Robotics Niagara 2026
  • (1 spot) June 17-20, 2026
  • FIRST® LEGO® League Open International Championship Greece 2026
  • (1 spot) May 8-10, 2026
  • FIRST LEGO League KOREA Open Invitational 
  • Korea (1 spot) July 3-5, 2026
  • Western Edge Invitational California
  • (1 spots) May 29-June 1, 2026
  • Georgia Ramblin’ Robots Invitationals (GR²Its)
  • (1 spot) June 5-7, 2026
  • WAFFLE (WPI Annual FIRST LEGO League Open Invitational Event) Massachusetts
  • (2 spots) June 12-14, 2026
  • American Robotics Open Championship, New Jersey
  • (3 or 4 spots) June 6-7, 2026

The form will be emailed directly to the award winning teams from the 2 state championships after 2/10

 

FIRST LEGO League Future Edition

FIRST will be livestreaming a demo of the new FIRST LEGO League experience at championships.  

To see a list of questions and answers by FIRST, you can go here

While we don’t know what events in Washington will look like yet (timing, location, event size, etc), we will be holding both Founders events and Future events (if needed) next season!

 

Huge Congratulations to the 4 teams moving on from the 2 Championship events!

Our 2 teams advancing to the World Festival in Houston, TX

  • 55142 Tomb Raiders, Royal City WA
  • 27820 The Unearthed Dinos, Sammamish WA

Our 2 teams advancing to Open Invitationals

 

  • 58650 Odyssey Dragons, Spokane WA
  • 24975 Tinkering Turtles, Snoqualmie WA

FLL Explore Events!

For teams attending our Spring FLL Explore events, or interested in attending- make sure you have registered your teams. Some of our events are full!

events-

Snohomish 3/14 12:00-3:00pm
Glacier Peak High School

Sammamish- 3/21 or 22
Sammamish High School

Bonney Lake 3/7 12:45-3:00pm
Bonney Lake High School

Cheney- 4/11
Eastern Washington University

FIRST Washington registration and Event Registration- https://firstwa.org/explore-registration/

Are you registered?- https://firstwa.org/explore-event-assignments/

An important message from our Finance Dept regarding booster deposits

Important note: All checks must be made payable to FIRST Washington. We are unable to deposit checks made out to teams or individuals. This will delay your team from receiving these funds as they will have to wait for a new check to be issued correctly.   

Important Dates & Deadlines

 

More From FLL

FLL UNEARTHED Blog: Volume 21

by | Jan 27, 2026 | FLL, FLL Challenge, FLL Explore, Newsletter

In this weeks Blog

State Championship

Reminder of Advocacy Request

Make sure you read the entire blog!

Season Info

Western WA State Championship!

This Sunday is the Western WA State Championship! Good luck to the teams participating! To see the list of teams, click here

The Champions award winner will advance to the World Festival in Houston, Texas April 29-May 2.

Good luck to the teams competing!

Reminder of Advocacy Request 

Hi FIRST Washington Community, 

This is a reminder to please take action and contact your state legislators by January 28 if you have not already done so. As shared in our previous message, this outreach should take only a few minutes and involves identifying your legislators, finding their email addresses, and sending three brief emails on behalf of your team. 

Detailed instructions and a sample email were included in the previous email from Fred Krug on January 22nd (You can also find the information on our website here: https://firstwa.org/wa-state-outreach/ ) Your outreach is critical as we work to build a strong case during the current Supplemental Legislative Session to reinstate state funding that directly supports teams across Washington. Hearing directly from students in their districts helps legislators understand the real and immediate impact of this funding on access, equity, and opportunity within our robotics community. 

 

Important Dates & Deadlines

  • February  1st – Western WA State

More From FLL

FLL UNEARTHED Blog: Volume 20

by | Jan 21, 2026 | FLL, FLL Challenge, FLL Explore, Newsletter

In this weeks Blog

Semifinals

State Funding! Urgent Request!  

State Championship

Coaches chat recording and slides posted

Make sure you read the entire blog!

Season Info

First weekend of Semifinals done!

Thanks to all who participated and volunteered at our first weekend of Semifinal events for FLL Challenge! We had 12 teams advance to the Western WA State Championship! To see the list of advanceing teams, click here

The second weekend of Semifinal events is this weekend! Good luck to all teams participating!

URGENT Action Alert-Requesting Reinstatement of State Funding for the next Washington FIRST Robotics Season

Hi FIRST Washington Community! 

  

As most of you recall, our robotics community in Washington lost critical state funding last year, funding that was paired with additional philanthropy to ensure all teams have support purchasing equipment, paying registration fees, and funding travel.   

  The Supplemental Session of the Washington State Legislature is now in session, and we need you to contact your state legislators in the next few days. 

  

We are building a case to request that funding be reinstated for the coming year and need your team’s help in requesting that your legislators submit the attached budget requests. 

 Please watch for an important communication from FIRST Washington President Fred Krug tomorrow. 

Eastern WA State Championship!

This Saturday is the Eastern WA State Championship! Good luck to the teams participating! To see the list of teams, click here

The Champions award winner will advance to the World Festival in Houston, Texas April 29-May 2.

Coaches Chat Recording and Slides posted

The recording and slides form last weeks coaches chat are posted on the FIRST WA website here

Important Dates & Deadlines

  • January 24/25 – Semifinals
  • January 24- Eastern WA State
  • February  1st – Western WA State

More From FLL

FLL UNEARTHED Blog: Volume 19

by | Jan 12, 2026 | FLL, FLL Challenge, FLL Explore, Newsletter

In this weeks Blog

Volunteers needed for Covington Semifinals!

Semifinal Assignment update!

Coaches chat tomorrow at 7pm

Next season update

Make sure you read the entire blog!

Season Info

Urgent! Volunteers needed for Covington Semifinals!

Our two Covington Semifinal events are in need of judges this weekend! If your team is not attending an event, please consider volunteering! No experience neeeded! Sign up through your dashboard on firstinspires.org or email nataliej@firstwa.org 

 

There are no upcoming events at this time.

Semifinal Assignments, Awards and Advancement Numbers

Numbers of advancing teams from all events are posted here

Awards and advancement info from the events is posted here. 

Teams advancing to the Semifinals have their assignments posted. Assignments are final at this time.

Very few teams asked to switch out of the Seattle Semifinals (1/24-1/25) so I was unable to accomodate most requests.

 

FIRST LEGO League Changes for next season and beyond

This morning FIRST and LEGO Education announced the reimagining of the FIRST LEGO League program as well as the retirement of the SPIKE equipment (Prime and Essential). https://education.lego.com/en-gb/spike-update-2026/ 

Read the blog post and watch the video for more info- https://community.firstinspires.org/new-era-first-lego-league-future-edition

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lego-education-announces-hands-on-computer-science–ai-learning-solution-302657732.html 

I do not have any more information than you do at this time, nor have any decisions been made for what the next season looks like in Washington. When I do I will share it here and on the FIRSTWA FLL Facebook page. Thanks for your patience!

 

Important Dates & Deadlines

  • January 13 – Coaches Chat
  • January 17/18 – Semifinals
  • January 24/25 – Semifinals
  • January 24- Eastern WA State
  • February  1st – Western WA State

More From FLL

FLL UNEARTHED Blog: Volume 18

by | Dec 22, 2025 | FLL, FLL Challenge, FLL Explore, Newsletter

In this weeks Blog

Semifinal Assignments, Awards and Advancement info!

Holiday Closure

Make sure you read the entire blog!

Season Info

FIRST Washington offices will be close at noon 12-23 and be closed through the new year 

We will not be checking mail, processing payments or responding to email during that time.   

We will return emails and process payments starting January 5th.   

Have a wonderful holiday and new year!   

Semifinal Assignments, Awards and Advancement Numbers

Numbers of advancing teams from all events are posted here

Awards and advancement info from the events is posted here. 

Teams advancing to the Semifinals have their assignments posted. A form is also posted like the Qualifiers for teams to request changes. Like the qualifiers, this is the only way I am accepting requests for changes. 

With the event sizes not being flexible like the Qualifiers, in order to move a team to a new event a team from the requested event must have asked to switch out.

This is a longer process, and I am able to accomidate less requests.

Since it takes longer, the form will close on Friday 1/9. Assignments will be finalized end of day 1/12. 

 

Important Dates & Deadlines

  • January 13 – Coaches Chat
  • January 17/18 – Semifinals
  • January 24/25 – Semifinals
  • January 24- Eastern WA State
  • February  1st – Western WA State

More From FLL

FLL UNEARTHED Blog: Volume 17

by | Dec 16, 2025 | FLL, FLL Challenge, FLL Explore

In this weeks Blog

Volunteers Needed for Seminfinals and State!

Congratulations to those that attended the Challenge Qualifiers!

Coaches Chat 12/17- Cancelled

Semifinal Assignments, Awards and Advancement info!

Reminder from FIRSTWA

Make sure you read the entire blog!

Season Info

Challenge Qualifiers Done!

Congratulations to all teams that attended an FLL Challenge Qualifier!

We had 550 teams compete in 22 events over the last 2 weekends!

All teams that participted should be proud of what they learned and accomplished this season! 

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.

Coaches Chat 12/17 Cancelled

Our scheduled Coaches Chat for tomorrow 12/17 is cancelled. Our next Coaches Chat will be 1/13/26, just before the first Semifinal weekend! See you then!

There are no upcoming events at this time.

Semifinal Assignments, Awards and Advancement Numbers

Numbers of advancing teams from all events are posted here

Awards and advancement info from the events will be posted here. 

Teams advancing to the Semifinals will have their assignment posted by the end of the day Friday 12/19. I will also post a form like the Qualifiers for teams to request changes. 

With the event sizes not being flexible like the Qualifiers, in order to move a team to a new event a team from the requested event must have asked to switch out. 

This is a longer process, and I am able to accomidate less requests. 

 

Volunteers needed for Semifinal and State Events!

We ask that all teams supply at least 1 volunteer for an event your team is not attending.

We are still in need of volunteers for our FLL Semifinals and State Championships! 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: 

 January 17-18- please note these dates are different than Seattle!

Covington Semifinals- Cedar Heights Middle School, Covington

January 24-25

Seattle Semifinals- Lincoln High School, Seattle

January 24th

Eastern Washington State Championship- St. Georges School, Spokane

February 1st

Western Washington State Championship- Amazon Meeting Center, Seattle

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

Thank you for your support in making this program sucessful for your team and others as well! We could not do it without you! 

Important Dates & Deadlines

  • January 13 – Coaches Chat
  • January 24/25 – Semifinals
  • January 24- Eastern WA State
  • February  1st – Western WA State

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