Newsletter | FIRST Washington

FRC REBUILT Blog: Volume 17

by Adrienne Collins | Dec 16, 2025 | FRC, Newsletter

Next Coaches Chat will be Tuesday, December 16 at 7:00 pm

We are trying a new format for our Coaches Chat this year. For our December coaches chat, we will have a round table with several coaches (And Stokely) talk about what their team does for kickoff and why it is such an important day (other than for the obvious reason)

To attend this meeting, click here Feel free to forward this link to any adults on your team that you feel need to attend.

CTSO Survey – Washington Teams Only

WASHINGTON TEAMS ONLY

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

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

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.

Important Dates

12-12: PNW FRC Registration needs to be secured
12-20: BunnyBots WA – Cancelled
1-10: FRC Kickoff
1-27: FRC Coaches Chat
2-12: FRC District Event Briefing
3-17: FRC District Championship & Championship Briefing

FTC DECODE Blog: Volume 16

by Adrienne Collins | Dec 10, 2025 | FTC, Newsletter

Please talk with your students about Gracious Professionalism and appropriate behavior at events

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

1-31: State Championship

FRC REBUILT Blog: Volume 16

by Adrienne Collins | Dec 9, 2025 | FRC, Newsletter

Urgent!! Volunteers still needed this weekend!

It takes volunteers to run all of our events. We reach out to FTC and FLL teams during FRC season to recruit volunteers and we now need you all to help us make their events go.

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

Check the status of your invoice

The deadline for securing your invoice is this Friday, December 12. You can secure your invoice with a PO from your school, check or credit card. Not sure if your invoice is secured? You can check the status here: https://firstwa.org/frc-team-status/ (Please note, this report is updated manually once a day.

Your invoice will need to be secured to pick up your kickoff kit on January 10.

Next Coaches Chat will be Tuesday, December 16 at 7:00 pm

We are trying a new format for our Coaches Chat this year. For our December coaches chat, we will have a round table with several coaches (And Stokely) talk about what their team does for kickoff and why it is such an important day (other than for the obvious reason)

To attend this meeting, click here Feel free to forward this link to any adults on your team that you feel need to attend.

Important Dates

Open Now: BunnyBots game rules released
12-12: PNW FRC Registration needs to be secured
12-13: BunnyBots OR
12-20: BunnyBots WA – Cancelled
1-10: FRC Kickoff
1-27: FRC Coaches Chat
2-12: FRC District Event Briefing
3-17: FRC District Championship & Championship Briefing

FRC REBUILT Blog: Volume 15

by Adrienne Collins | Dec 2, 2025 | FRC, Newsletter

Urgent!! Volunteers needed for events the next two weekends!

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 6: Beaver Lake, Everett, Seattle, Spokane, and Wapato

December 7: Everett, Seattle, Spokane, and Wapato

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

Invoices have been sent

Invoices were sent to the contact listed on the FIRST Washington registration form on Friday, 11-21. If you did not receive an invoice, please reach out to our finance department at accounting@firstwa.org.

Reminder, the deadline to secure your registration is Friday, December 12. You can secure your registration with a PO or by paying with a check or credit card.

Slides and recording from the November 18 coaches chat have been posted

If you missed the coaches chat (which most of you did because it was VERY lightly attended 😊 ) be sure to check out the slides and recording here: https://firstwa.org/webinars/ Remember, you are responsible to know this information.

Workshops/Quiet Room at events

Workshops

Workshops are great at events but take extra work. If you are interested in hosting a workshop, please fill out this form The deadline to submit for a workshop is February 6.

Quiet Room

We had lots of people asking us about quiet rooms last year. FIRST Washington is unable to manage quiet room sign ups at events. Volunteers do need to sign up for the role through their firstinspires dashboard to make sure they have passed youth protection screening. Many adults enjoy taking a shift in the quiet room to give them a break from the noise and craziness of the event!

Please consider hosting the quiet room, we are happy to work with you and give you contact info for the folks to sign up. Fill out this form if you’re willing to be a quiet room host for an event.

Accommodations at events (accessibility not hotel accommodations)

In the PNW, we work VERY hard to make sure everyone has a great experience at our events.

We are aware of the needs at some of our events, but if you don’t tell us, we may not be aware of your team’s need. Please fill out this form to let us know if your team needs any accommodations. The earlier you fill out the form, the more likely we will be able to accommodate your request. Understand, we may not be able to accommodate everyone’s needs. We are a small organization and venues vary. Please be gracious and kind if we can’t exactly meet your need the way you would like. The earlier you make us aware of a need, the greater chance we may be able to make an accommodation.

Important Dates

Open Now: BunnyBots game rules released
12-12: PNW FRC Registration needs to be secured
12-13: BunnyBots OR
12-20: BunnyBots WA
1-10: FRC Kickoff
1-27: FRC Coaches Chat
2-12: FRC District Event Briefing
3-17: FRC District Championship & Championship Briefing

FTC DECODE Blog: Volume 15

by Adrienne Collins | Dec 2, 2025 | FTC, Newsletter

Urgent!! Volunteers needed for events the next two weekends!

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 6: Beaver Lake, Everett, Seattle, Spokane, and Wapato

December 7: Everett, Seattle, Spokane, and Wapato

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

Recording and slides from Nov 20 Coaches Chat posted

We went over a lot of information about the upcoming events during our November Blog. As coaches, you are responsible to know this information. Make sure you look through the slide deck and recording posted on firstwa.org so you don’t miss important information and deadlines! You can find the slide deck and recording here: https://firstwa.org/webinars/

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 Den’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

Compass Award Submissions

Each team may submit a mentor for the Compass Award. For more information on the Compass Award, please see page 48 of the game manual here: https://ftc-resources.firstinspires.org/ftc/game/manual

To submit a mentor for the Compass award, please fill out this form by 5:00 pm January 24th. the winner will be announced at the FTC State Championship competition January 31.

All teams are eligible to submit a mentor for the Compass Award, you do not need to be qualified for the State Championship to be considered.

Upcoming off season FTC events/scrimmages

East Side Scrimmage

Hosted by FTC 4054 and FRC 2557

Saturday, December 6th, 2025

Venue: East Side Community Center

1721 E 56th St, Tacoma, WA 98404

Team Sign Up Form: https://forms.gle/Jm6CZjqS2cCzKgke7

Description

The East Side Scrimmage is a one day Demo event for the Tacoma community to learn about FIRST and FIRST Tech Challenge, hosted at the East Side community center. The scrimmage is being hosted with the Teched Out Kids Summit, the event is to allow teams the opportunity to get in drive practice prior to League tournaments the next weekend and display First Tech Challenge to the south Sound community. The event is being coordinated by FTC team 4054 The Gradle Demons and being staffed by FRC team 2557. The event will have Live scoring and will be streamed on the SOTAbots Youtube page

Contact: sotabots@gmail.com

Washington Tech Invitational

Hosted by FTC 14343 and FRC 1899

Sunday, January 4th, 2026

Venue: Interlake High School

Sign up form: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=OUFKmQZ8HkmAmHkAbVdd4NHXAAFxsaVIg0ilxGUobv9UQ1V…

FTC teams, we invite you to join our Washington Tech Invitational scrimmage with your robot to compete, build teamwork, and prepare for upcoming competition season! For more info email us at wtiinfo25@gmail.com

High Definition Invitational

Hosted by FTC 18225

Sunday, January 11th, 2026

Venue: Interlake High School

Contact Information

Name: EJ Choi

Email: ftc18225@gmail.com