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FRC Reefscape Blog: Volume 14

by | Jan 16, 2025 | FRC, Newsletter

Join the Coaches Chat Tonight at 7:00 pm

The coaches chat is tonight Thursday, January 16th  at 7:00 pm.  Coaches Chats are an opportunity for us to share important information with all of you as well as help you connect with other coaches.  We recommend each team have one coach attend.

During this meeting we will be checking in to see how the build season is going as well as talking about workshops/accommodations/quiet room at events.  This is not the district event briefing, that is in February.

Menstrual Equity

What is Menstrual Equity? 
 Menstrual Equity refers to the idea that everyone should be provided access to affordable menstrual hygiene products. M.E. FIRST aims to provide everybody with free pads and tampons at FRC competitions to remove financial barriers related to menstruation.  
 
How to Help? 
 Your team can help with this project by signing up as an M.E. FIRST Ambassador to assist in providing menstrual products at your events this season. This includes placing menstrual products in the bathrooms and making care packages for teams to keep with them throughout the event.  

2980 M.E. Ambassador Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdoIRaq-9bk 
 If you’re interested please fill out this form: https://forms.gle/NiHepUUbpJP1niZi8 
 If you have any questions, please reach out to 2980m.e@gmail.com. 

FIRST Force Scrimmage

Get Your Game On!

The FIRST Force Scrimmage is returning to Corvallis High School in Corvallis, Oregon on Sunday, February 16.  This is a great event to meet teams and their new robots before week 1.  Your team will also have a chance to practice a match as a part of an alliance, test and tune your robot, try out your scouting system, and have a lot of fun.

The cost for the scrimmage is $100.00 per team with fee waivers for 2024 and 2025 rookie teams.  Teams from Oregon and Washington are welcome.  See the links below for registration and details.  The member teams of FIRST Force hope to see you there!

Important Dates

FTC Into the Deep Blog: Volume 15

by | Jan 7, 2025 | FTC, Newsletter

Semifinal Competitions are This Weekend! 

The Asimov and Capek Semi-Finals will be held at Tahoma High School in Maple Valley this weekend (Jan 11/12).  

The events are open to the public so even if your team is not competing, feel free to stop by and check out the competitions.  

We will also be streaming the competitions.  You can view them via the buttons below: 

Asimov
Capek
There are no upcoming events at this time.
There are no upcoming events at this time.

Compass Award Submissions

All teams are eligible to submit for the Compass award whether they are moving on to the State Championship or not.   

For more information on the requirements for submitting for the compass award, see the game manual here:  https://ftc-resources.firstinspires.org/file/ftc/game/manual-06  

You can submit for the Compass award by filling out this form.  The deadline for submission is Friday, January 24th.  No late submissions will be accepted. 

We Want Your Feedback! 

FIRST Washington strives to support coaches in building sustainable and supported teams. We’d love to hear from you how we’re doing.

Please take time to fill out THIS SURVEY to let us know how this season is going and how you feel about your team’s sustainability. The survey is anonymous and will not collect your name/email or team number. All questions are optional, and any that you complete will help. Thank you for supporting an improved experience for all teams! 

Dean’s List Interviews will take place Remotely via Teams January 13 – 26

Dean’s List nominations are closed! Coaches! If you nominated a student(s), you should have received an email with their interview time(s)/date(s). It’s your responsibility to share that information with your student(s). We are not granted access to contact information for nominees, so it has to come from one of the two primary coaches. 

If you nominated a student(s) and have not received the interview schedule, search your inbox and spam folder for an email from FTC and FRC Program & Mentor Support Alida Mendes McCracken – alidam@firstwa.org.  

 Below are some tips for interviewers to keep in mind. Please do not reach out to your Program Director with questions about Dean’s List! : ) 

  • Interviews will be no less than 6 minutes and no longer than 15 minutes per student
  • Students will be interviewed remotely by a panel of 3 interviewers
  • All students should have 1 adult (coach, mentor, parent, guardian, etc.) present for the interview. They can either be in the physical room with the student, or they can log on to the Teams chat via the remote meeting link. If you are having an adult tune in to the meeting via the link, please only have one adult join. Adding lots of extra attendees to the meeting remotely can slow down the interviewing process.
  • If there is no adult present with the student (either in their room physically or in the Teams meeting remotely) the student cannot be interviewed.

Important Dates & Deadlines

  • January 11-12:  Semi Final event window 
  • January 13-26:  Dean’s List Interview window 
  • Jan 24:  Compass Award Submission Deadline 
  • February 1:  FTC State 

FRC Reefscape Blog: Volume 12 

by | Dec 17, 2024 | FRC, Newsletter

REMINDER: the coaches chat for next Thursday (Dec 19) has been cancelled 

Since our November Coaches meeting got pushed into December, we are cancelling this coaches chat. 

You can view the recording and slides from the 12-5 coaches chat here 

Make sure you are ready for kickoff 

Make sure your PNW FRC Registration is secured before next Friday if you have not yet secured it.  You will not be able to pick up your kickoff kit if your registration is not secured 

  1. Print your team roster to take to your kickoff event 
    • All students and mentors in attendance should be listed on the roster and have their online consent forms signed 
    • If someone has not signed their consent form online, you need to bring a paper copy 
    • If someone is not listed on your roster, you will need to handwrite them on the roster and include a paper consent form 
  2. Who is allowed to pick up your kickoff kit? 
    • Lead 1 or 2 mentor for the team with photo ID  
    • Any mentor on the team over 18 (you may log in to your FIRST Dashboard as proof) with photo ID  
    • The person over 18 that is listed on the Surrogate Kit Pick-up Letter with photo ID 
  3. Surrogate Kit Pick-Up
    • If a team is unable to pick up its Kickoff Kit at the local kickoff selected, an alternate team may be designated to do so. The team unable to attend must be registered to pick up their Kickoff Kit at the local kickoff AND provide FIRST with an authorized surrogate kit pick-up letter, submitted/signed by the lead coach/mentor 1 or 2 or team administrator: 1) Your team number 2) the Kickoff location 3) the name and team number (if applicable) of the surrogate picking up the Kickoff Kit. All surrogate kit pickup letters must be received at FIRST by December 31, 2024. 

Team 360’s 9th Annual Community Strategy Session

Join The Revolution on Sunday, January 6, 2025, at Bellarmine Preparatory School for a day of collaboration and strategic planning. This year, we’ll be strategizing with local FRC teams over the much-anticipated release of the 2025 FIRST Robotics Competition game, Reefscape!

Get ready for a productive session focused on developing strategies and solutions for an exciting season ahead. 

The session will be led by 360 alumni and mentor Jake Dusek, who will guide us through the process and bring invaluable insight to the discussion. 

Time: 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM 
Location: Bellarmine Preparatory School 

Don’t Miss Out: 

✅ RSVP Now! Email business@frc360.com to let us know how many people you’re bringing. 
 ✅ Be Prepared: Review the rules, bring your iPad or laptop, and be ready to take notes and share ideas. 
 ✅ Bring a Snack: Share a snack with the group and help keep the energy flowing! 

We look forward to working together and making the 2025 season a success! 

 

Thank YOU for supporting your fellow FIRST Programs!

Thank you to all the FRC teams, students, coaches, mentors and parents who volunteered to support FLL Challenge and FTC competitions this season. Whether you were a Judge, a Referee, a Field Resetter… or maybe a coffee runner for a busy Site Host, attepmting to solve a power outage (yes, this did happen at multiple events!) – Your time and care was an integeral piece to making a memorable experience for our students. 

We could not support all these new teams without YOU! We had 55 FLL Challenge and FTC competitions in Between October – December… And we’ve got 10 more Semifinals and Championship events in the new year.

As we continue to see team growth in FLL and FTC, we try to grow our event volunteer base alongside so all these awesome new teams can have an amazing experience when they get to competitions.

If your team is looking for community outreach initatives, its not too late! Consider signing up to support an FLL Challenge or FTC event near you!

You can always reach out to us if you want more guidence about how to help out. Email Mara Kealey at marak@firstwa.org.

Volunteer Roles Needed: (both programs)

  • Referees
  • Judges
  • Queuers
  • Field Resetters
  • Scorekeepers
How to Register

Important Dates

  • December 19:  FRC Coaches Chat This will be cancelled since the Nov coaches chat was pushed into December 
  • January 4:  FRC Kickoff!! (Remember, FIRST Washington registration must be secured to pick up your kit!) 

FTC Into the Deep Blog: Volume 14

by | Dec 12, 2024 | FTC, Newsletter

Reminders to teams participating this weekend 

Coaches should be receiving emails with specifics on your Interleauge event, but I wanted to give some general reminders here:

  • You must bring your team roster and signed consent forms to your Interleague. These are required by FIRST HQ for every event that your team attends. The events will not have the ability to print these for you so you must print them off ahead of time and turn them in when you check in your team.
  • Please bring safety glasses for your students, mentors and spectators. Safety glasses should be worn around the field area as well as in the pits.
  • Bring an extension cord and power strip so your team can tie into the power available in the pit area.
  • Reminder, this is an all day event where judging happens in the morning. You may want to tell spectators come either when matches start or after lunchtime, there won’t be much for them to see in the morning.
  • Please do not arrive early. You will not be allowed to enter the building early even if the weather is bad. Our volunteers are busy getting the event set up and ready for you – they have a very limited window to prep the venue, so please give them the time and space they need! 

Next FTC Coaches Chat, Tuesday, December 17 at 7:00 pm 

Our next coaches chat is scheduled for Tuesday, December 17th at 7:00 pm.  Coaches chats are an opportunity for use to share important information with all of you as well as help you connect with other coaches.  We recommend each team have one coach attend.  Click here for meeting link. 

There are no upcoming events at this time.

Last Call – Dean’s List Nominations are Due December 15th 

We will once again be having remote Dean’s List Interviews in January (More info on the Interview window will be sent to coaches after submissions close in December)

Lead and Alternate Coaches can nominate their students from their firstinspires dashboard until December 15th.

Don’t wait until the last minute, get your nominations in today.

Nomination Guide

After Your Season is Over? Volunteer at Events!

For many of you, your competition season will end after your Interleague event. But that doesn’t need to be the end of your FIRST. A fantastic way to improve your team is to volunteer at an event!

If you are a coach, judging at an event (for any program) can help you understand the judging process and how to direct your students to be stronger in the judging room.

Students can learn a lot from watching other robots and connecting with students from other teams.

We have 3 events after the first of the year. 2 Semi Final events in Maple Valley (Jan 11 & 12) and State in Seattle (Feb 1) Please consider signing up as a volunteer to support those events!

If there is an FLL or FTC event in your school district and your team isn’t already supporting it, please consider mobilizing your team to help out! We understand this time of year is busy, but many of our FLL and FTC hosts depend on fellow FIRST teams to help fulfill volunteer roles.

You can always reach out to us if you want more guidence about how to help out. Email Mara Kealey at marak@firstwa.org.

Volunteer Roles Needed: FTC

  • Judges
  • Scoring Referees
  • Queuers
  • Field Resetters
  • Scorekeepers

Volunteer Roles Needed: FLL

  • Judges
  • Referees
  • Queuers
  • Field Resetters
  • Scorekeepers
How to Register

Important Dates & Deadlines

  • January 11-12:  Semi Final event window 
  • January 13-26:  Dean’s List Interview window 
  • Jan 24:  Compass Award Submission Deadline 
  • February 1:  FTC State 

FRC Reefscape Blog: Volume 11

by | Dec 4, 2024 | FRC, Newsletter

Invoices Went Out Last Week!

Just want to make sure everyone is aware that invoices were emailed to the contact designated on the PNW FRC Registration form on November 26.  The invoices come from our accounting software Aplos and often end up in people’s spam folder.  

If you did not receive an invoice, please…

  1. Check your spam folder 
  2. Send me an email (acollins@firstwa.org) with your team number and I can confirm who the invoice was supposed to be sent to and if needed, help you get a copy re-sent. 

Fundraising for your team

Many of you have booster accounts with us and either have fundraising links set up (through give lively, benevity, etc…).

It is imperative that you make sure your team number gets put on any and all donations we receive whether by check or electronically.  We support over 1000 teams and many of them have booster accounts.  We have NO WAY of knowing a donation from James Smith should go to your team unless they tell us your team number (not your team name or school name or coach name or mentor name or student name or parent name – hopefully you are getting the point). 

We are a VERY small staff to support all teams in the PNW and Washington… and when we have to take time to chase down donations, it prevents us from doing the work necessary to support all of you!

If your team number is not listed on your donation, you are at risk of those funds not being deposited into your booster account. We just have no way of knowing how to contact the donor or who the funds are for… and it is not our responsibility. 

Please make sure your instructions to your sponsors are clear when it comes to making donations to your FIRST Washington booster account.

FIRST Washington is not responsible for donations not getting deposited due to lack of documentation from donors. That is YOUR responsibility to correct.

Help US help YOU! 🙂

The November Coaches Chat will take place on Thursday, December  5th at 7:00 pm

The November Coaches Chat was rescheduled due to much of Washington state losing power in November. It is scheduled for Thursday, December 5th at 7:00 pm.  Coaches chats are an opportunity for use to share important information with all of you as well as help you connect with other coaches.  We recommend each team have one coach attend.

We Want YOUR Feedback! 

FIRST Washington strives to support coaches in building sustainable and supported teams. We’d love to hear from you how we’re doing.

Please take time to fill out the survey below to let us know how prepared you feel for the upcoming season and how you feel about your team’s sustainability.

The survey is anonymous and will not collect your name/email or team number. All questions are optional, and any that you complete will help. Thank you for supporting an improved experience for all teams! 

Feedback Survey

Volunteer with FTC or FLL!

We have 27 FTC and FLL Challenge events in December alone, and we need over 1,400 volunteers to run them! Please organize your team to register today! Volunteering at FLL and FTC events is NUMBER ONE way your team can support FIRST growth in your community, and you’ll have a blast doing it! 

For coaches and mentors, Judging or Refereeing is a great local team netoworking opportunity. And for FRC Students, volunteering in any role is a great way to work towards any service hour requirements for graduation.

If there is an FLL or FTC event in your school district and your team isn’t already supporting it, please consider mobilizing your team to help out! We understand this time of year is busy, but many of our FLL and FTC hosts depend on FRC teams to help fulfill volunteer roles. 

You can always reach out to us if you want more guidence about how to help out. Email Mara Kealey at marak@firstwa.org.

Volunteer Roles Needed: (both programs)

  • Referees
  • Judges
  • Queuers
  • Field Resetters
  • Scorekeepers
How to Register
There are no upcoming events at this time.

Important Dates

  • December 5:  FRC Coaches Chat 
  • December 10:  FRC Invoices secured 
  • December 14:  Bunnybots Oregon & Washington 
  • December 19:  FRC Coaches Chat This will be cancelled since the Nov coaches chat was pushed into December 
  • January 4:  FRC Kickoff!! (Remember, FIRST Washington registration must be secured to pick up your kit!) 

FTC Into the Deep Blog: Volume 13

by | Dec 4, 2024 | FTC, Newsletter

Turing League Meet 2 AND Spencer League Meet 2 are RESCHEDULED for December 8th

We appreciate all the teams in these Leagues for their patience as we work to reschedule events postponed by extreme weather.

Turnig League Meet 2 will take place on December 8th – All event details besides the date change (location, time. participating teams, etc.) remain the same.

Spencer League Meet 2 has also been rescehduled for December 8th – All event details besides the date change (location, time. participating teams, etc.) remain the same.

We understand notification of the Spencer LM2 reschedule is short notice, but the school district was out of power and unreachable (due to the holiday) until yesterday.

If you are a team participating in either of these events, please reach out to your League Host.

Next FTC Coaches Chat, Tuesday, December 17 at 7:00 pm 

Our next coaches chat is scheduled for Tuesday, December 17th at 7:00 pm.  Coaches chats are an opportunity for use to share important information with all of you as well as help you connect with other coaches.  We recommend each team have one coach attend.  Click here for meeting link. 

There are no upcoming events at this time.

Dean’s List Nominations are Due December 15th 

We will once again be having remote Dean’s List Interviews in January (More info on the Interview window will be sent to coaches after nominations close in December)

Lead and Alternate Coaches can nominate their students from their firstinspires dashboard until December 15th.

Don’t wait until the last minute, get your nominations in today.

Nomination Guide

General Interleague Event Info 

Coaches should be receiving emails with specifics on your Interleauge event, but I wanted to give some general reminders here: 

  • You must bring your team roster and signed consent forms to your Interleague.  These are required by FIRST HQ for every event that your team attends.  The events will not have the ability to print these for you so you must print them off ahead of time and turn them in when you check in your team. 
  • Please bring safety glasses for your students, mentors and spectators.  Safety glasses should be worn around the field area as well as in the pits. 
  • Bring an extension cord and power strip so your team can tie into the power available in the pit area. 
  • Reminder, this is an all day event where judging happens in the morning. You may want to tell spectators come either when matches start or after lunchtime, there won’t be much for them to see in the morning. 

Fundraising for Your Team

Many of you have booster accounts with us and either have fundraising links set up (through give lively, benevity, etc…)  It is imperative that you make sure your team number gets put on any and all donations we receive whether by check or electronically.  We support over 1000 teams and many of them have booster accounts.  We have NO WAY of knowing a donation from James Smith should go to your team unless they tell us your team number (not your team name or school name or coach name or mentor name or student name or parent name – hopefully you are getting the point) We are a VERY small staff that must do many different tasks to support all teams in the PNW and Washington and when we have to take time to chase down donations, it prevents us from doing other things we need to do to support all of you!

If your team number is not listed on your donation, you are at risk of those funds not being deposited into your booster account because we just have no way of knowing how to contact the donor or who the funds are for.  Please help us help you by making sure your instructions to your sponsors are clear when it comes to making donations to your FIRST Washington booster account.

We Want Your Feedback! 

FIRST Washington strives to support coaches in building sustainable and supported teams. We’d love to hear from you how we’re doing. Please take time to fill out the survey below to let us know how this season is going and how you feel about your team’s sustainability.

The survey is anonymous and will not collect your name/email or team number. All questions are optional, and any that you complete will help. Thank you for supporting an improved experience for all teams! 

Feedback Survey

Volunteer with FTC or FLL!

We have 27 FTC and FLL Challenge events in December alone, and we need over 1,400 volunteers to run them! Please organize your team to register today! Volunteering at FLL and FTC events is NUMBER ONE way your team can support FIRST growth in your community, and you’ll have a blast doing it! 

For coaches and mentors, Judging (at events your team is NOT competing at) is a great way to learn about the judging process.

And for FTC students, volunteering in any role is a great way to work towards any service hour requirements for graduation.

If there is an FLL or FTC event in your school district and your team isn’t already supporting it, please consider mobilizing your team to help out! We understand this time of year is busy, but many of our FLL and FTC hosts depend on FRC teams to help fulfill volunteer roles.

You can always reach out to us if you want more guidence about how to help out. Email Mara Kealey at marak@firstwa.org.

Volunteer Roles Needed: (both programs)

  • Referees
  • Judges
  • Queuers
  • Field Resetters
  • Scorekeepers
How to Register
There are no upcoming events at this time.

Important Dates & Deadlines

  • January 11-12:  Semi Final event window 
  • January 13-26:  Dean’s List Interview window 
  • Jan 24:  Compass Award Submission Deadline 
  • February 1:  FTC State