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FLL Submerged Blog: Volume 3

by | Sep 3, 2024 | FLL, FLL Challenge, FLL Explore

Additional Season details and Grant information! First Coaches Chat info! 

Make sure you read the entire blog!

Season Info

Important OSPI Grant Information- For FLL Challenge teams

OSPI informational meeting next Tuesday, Sept 10 at 7:00 pm 

If you are a Washington State public school or Tribal Compact school, you are eligible for the OSPI grant! 

 The process will be very similar to last year.  If you are new to this process or have questions, feel free attend our meeting on Tuesday, September 10 at 7:00 pm.  Click here for the meeting link: OSPI Informational Meeting  Keep in mind, this meeting is for questions on the OSPI grant only, we will not be answering program specific questions at that time.  For program specific questions, be sure to attend your program specific Coaches Chat.   

There are no upcoming events at this time.

FLL Challenge Coaches Chat

Our first coaches chat of the season will be next Thursday, September 12th at 7pm.

In this meeting we will be going over-

  • the season timeline
  • registration and changes
  • Washington specific event rules
  • volunteer needs

We will not be talking about the robot game or robot game specific questions in this meeting. 

This meeting will be recorded. Coaches unable to attend should watch the recording or check the slides for important information.

Additional Coaches Chat dates- October 10th, November 14th, December 3rd, January 14th

 

Event Dates

 

Festivals for FLL Explore will take place in December and March. Specific dates to be announce soon!

Qualifiers for FLL Challenge will take place the first two weekends in December- 12/7-12/8 and 12/14-12/15. Locations to be announced soon!

Qualifier Registration process for FLL Challenge may be changing! Tune in to the first coaches chat on September 12th to find out more!

Venues locations for FLL Challenge*-

Everett, Snohomish, Bellevue, Issaquah, Federal Way, Spokane, Tacoma, Seattle, Pasco, Olympia, Chimacum, Oak Harbor

*Subject to change until confirmed

FIRST Washington Registration

 

Registration with FIRST Washington is now open for both FLL Explore and FLL Challenge teams!

  • FIRST Washington runs the FIRST LEGO League Explore and Challenge Events in the state of Washington.
  • FIRST Washington charges an additional fee of $50 for Explore and $350 for Challenge to participate in events, and those fees are set and collected by FIRST Washington.

All teams are required to fill out the FIRST Washington team registration form in order to participate. FIRST WA registration will CLOSE September 27th.

Explore Registration
Challenge Registration

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FTC Into the Deep Blog: Volume 4

by | Sep 3, 2024 | FTC

The Bellevue Kickoff is now Full

Auburn kickoff only has 3 teams currently attending and is in danger of being cancelled.  If you plan to attend the Auburn Kickoff, you need to register by the end of the day tomorrow. 

If you plan to attend any of the other kickoffs around the state, please take time to register.  It helps the coordinators with planning to know how many are in attendance.  It is not gracious or professional to just show up. 

Register Here

OSPI informational meeting next Tuesday, Sept 10 at 7:00 pm 

If you are a Washington State public school or Tribal Compact school, you are eligible for the OSPI grant! 

 The process will be very similar to last year.  If you are new to this process or have questions, feel free attend our meeting on Tuesday, September 10 at 7:00 pm.  Click here for the meeting link: OSPI Informational Meeting  Keep in mind, this meeting is for questions on the OSPI grant only, we will not be answering program specific questions at that time.  For program specific questions, be sure to attend your program specific Coaches Chat.   

There are no upcoming events at this time.

Register your Team with FIRST Inspires AND FIRST Washington

Right now, we only have 60 teams registered with FIRST Inspires 21 teams registered with FIRST Washington.  Because we are allowing teams to preference into another league this year it is Imperative that you get registered with both FIRST and FIRST Washington right away.  We have to know how many teams we need to accommodate so we can meet the tight window that we have by opening up an opportunity for teams to preference into another league.  Please help us help you by getting registered with both FIRST and FIRST Washington right away. 

Register TODAY

Important Dates & Deadlines

  • February 1:  FTC State

FRC Reefscape Blog: Volume 2

by | Aug 28, 2024 | FRC

Boeing Grant is Open

If you have a Boeing mentor, you are eligible to receive the Boeing registration grant.  Please have your Boeing mentor reach out internally to find out how to submit for this grant. 

Bunny Bots in Washington and Oregon this Season!

Now entering its fifteenth year, Bunnybots is a centerpiece of Oregon team’s fall.  It gives members a chance to bond and learn essential skills building a fun, whimsical FRC-class robot before FIRST build season starts.

Rules and registration posted September 1. Register below or email dale@yocum.com with any questions. 

OR Registration

Now, for the first time ever, Bunnybots is expanding to Washington thanks to Panther Robotics 3218 of Bonney Lake!

Rules and registration posted September 1. Register below or email Jason_vander_hoek@sumnersd.org with any questions. 

WA Registration

Important Dates

FTC Into the Deep Blog: Volume 3

by | Aug 27, 2024 | FTC

Please register for Kickoff if you plan to attend!

Please fill out this form to register your team if you plan to attend an in person kickoff (There is schedule information about each kickoff on the form).  It’s important to register if you plan to attend so the event host can send you important information regarding your specific kickoff event.   

As of right now, we only have 1 team registered for the Auburn Kickoff event.  If we don’t get more teams registered by this Friday, August 30th, we may cancel that kickoff event and move the registered team to the Bellevue event. 

Register Here

There were some issues with the blog post last week and many of you may have missed the post, please review the big changes to the event structure to ensure you understand what is changing this season and are prepared. 

Big Changes to the Event Structure this Year

If you missed the meeting on May 28 where we discussed the changes to the schedule and event registration process this season, I strongly encourage you to go look at the slide deck and/or view the webinar.  You can find the links on the firstwa webinar page here:  https://firstwa.org/webinars/  

I am going to go over changes at a high level and important/significant dates.  If you have questions after reading this blog please –

  • Check out the May 28 meeting and slides. 
  • Attend our Sept 17 Coaches Chat where we will be talking about these changes again and answering questions.   

What is changing?

  • The event dates have changed. 
  • League Changes:  League Coordinators will now select two dates between October 26 and November 24 to hold their events. 
  • Interleague Changes:  Interleague events will be spread out during the first three weekends of December rather than all being held the same weekend.   
  • Semi Final layer added:  We will now be advancing teams from Interleague events so Semi Final events to give more teams an opportunity to advance. 
  • State:  Will be held the same time as it has been but will have fewer teams than in prior years. 
  • You will now be able to preference into another league. 

On October 1, leagues will be posted (based on teams registered with FIRST Washington by September 27th so it is imperative that you register your teams by then!!). When leagues are posted, you will see all your event play dates up through your Interleague play in December. 

A preferencing window will open from 10-1 to 10-9 where coaches can preference for a different league. Updated league assignments will be posted on 10-11. 

We will go into this process in more detail on our Sept 17 coaches chat but will not be answering email questions prior to that time. 

Goals with the 2024-25 season changes 

  • Give teams and event hosts more flexibility in scheduling. 
  • Decrease the burden on volunteers and volunteer coordinators. 
  • Improve the scalability of advancement within Washington.

I’m sure many of you have questions after reading this.  Be sure to attend our coaches chat on September 17.  You can find the link to that chat here. 

Boeing Grants are Open

If you have a Boeing mentor, you are eligible to receive the Boeing registration grant.  Please have your Boeing mentor reach out internally to find out how to submit for this grant. 

Important Dates & Deadlines

  • February 1:  FTC State

OSPI Update

by | Aug 23, 2024 | FLL, FLL Challenge, FRC, FTC, Newsletter, Programs

Please Note the Date Change:

The Grant Application Opening Date is now officially Wednesday August 28th. Like last year, it will be a single user login.

For context on the Grant Application Opening will be moved back 48 hours (Originally slated to open August 26th)…

Based on your feedback, we were working with our vendor to improve the user experience for this year.

Unfortunately the solution did not work as well in beta as hoped, so we are reverting back to last year’s system for the current year.
The good news is, if you filled out the application last season, you can use the same login information, and the portal will look and function the same as last year.

Thank you for your patience and understanding, we know you are all busy this time of year and are working to make this process simple to respect your time. If you have questions, be sure to attend our informational webinar on September 10th at 7 pm, or send an email to grants@firstwa.org.

OSPI Page
There are no upcoming events at this time.