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FTC Blog: Volume 21

by | Mar 5, 2024 | FTC

End of year OSPI Reports are due March 31

It is time to login and complete your mandatory year-end report for your FTC OSPI grant award! 

The person with access to the report will be the one who created the login and submitted the grant application(s). If you are not the primary applicant, please coordinate with the person who does need to submit the report through the grant portal.  

You can log in here: https://webportalapp.com/sp/firstwa_ftc 

This report will be due Mar 31, 2024, for all FTC schools. 

As a reminder, completion of this report is a requirement for eligibility to receive this grant funding in the 2024-25 school year.  

Thank you for your support and for your honest feedback while completing the report. 

 If you have any questions, need help, or feel like you are not able to meet the due date due to extenuating circumstances please contact grants@firstwa.org. 

FRC Blog: Volume 19

by | Mar 5, 2024 | FRC

Takeaways from Week 1

Remember, once the pits open at 5 pm, no work can be done on the robot at your shop. If you live close to the venue and choose to not load in right at 5, we expect you to be gracious and professional and stop working on your robot until you arrive at the venue. 

Safety: 

  • We want everyone to have a fun competition but part of that is doing it safely. Make sure you and your team understand the safety rules. If you need a refresher, you can find the safety manual here 
  • If you are wearing glasses and plan to wear side shields, make sure your prescription glasses are safety rated.  
  • Tie long hair back when working on or around the robot so that it doesn’t get in your way or tangled in the robot 
  • Do not charge your batteries at the venue overnight (Even if there is no generator and the pits are powered) It is a safety issue. 

We are working to have a quiet room at each event but are struggling this season. For events that have a quiet room, here are some safety things you need to remember: 

  • Two adults should staff the quiet room so there is never a situation where there is 1 adult and one student in the room together. 
  • The quiet room may not be open at all times (and we don’t necessarily have keys to the facility to lock in when it is not in use) When the quiet room is unattended, no students should be in the quiet room. Coaches please make sure your students understand this. We did have reports last weekend of unattended students in the quiet room and will have to discontinue having it this season if we can’t get them staffed appropriately. 

Event Pages

I have heard reports that there are some issues with some of the schedules on firstinspires.org. The best place to get event information is from the event page on firstwa.org.

You can find event information below –

Upcoming Competitions

District Championship Event Briefing

We will be having out District Championship Briefing on Tuesday, March 19 at 7:00 pm. I recommend any team that believes they may qualify for District Championships have an adult attend this meeting. You can find the meeting link on the calender on firstwa.org or clicking the link below:

DCMP Event Briefing

District Championship Hotel Room Block

We have some exciting news, we have secured hotel rooms at the Crown Plaza which is very close to the venue. Rooms in the robotics block will cost 159/night AND the hotel will provide a free breakfast for up to 4 people per room! To access this block, follow this link: First Robotics 2024 

Remind Your Team to Volunteer!

To see what roles are available at what events, volunteers need to login to their FIRST dashboard (or create one if they’re new). If they can apply for it, that means it’s open!

Volunteer Availability:

  • Oregon State Fair – some spots available
  • Auburn – some spots available
  • SunDome – many spots available! 
  • Bonney Lake – many spots available! 
  • Wilsonville – some spots available
  • Sammamish

Please remind students that all volunteer hours can go towards National Honor Society volunteer requirements and many other volunteer requirements. 

Specifically for adult volunteers, our greatest need is for Judges at Oregon State Fair and SunDome.

Consider signing up to volunteer, or helping recruit local volunteers! Remember, you cannot Judge at an event if you’re affiliated with a competing team, or you are younger than 20 years old.

Questions about available roles? Email Mara at Marak@firstwa.org to learn more!

Register to Volunteer

FLL Blog Volume 20

by | Feb 20, 2024 | FLL, FLL Challenge, FLL Explore

FLL Blog Volume 20

Important!

For Public and Tribal Compact Schools with

FLL Challenge Teams!

You should have received this email-

 

Hello!
If you are receiving this email, it is because your school/ FLL team was a recipient of on OSPI grant award in the 2023-24 school year.
 
It is time for all FLL OSPI grant award recipients to submit their required year-end report through the grant portal. These mandatory reports are due February 29, 2024.  Failure to meet the report deadline will result in a loss of eligibility for OSPI funding next season.
To ensure that your school/ team is eligible for this funding next year please coordinate with the person who submitted the grant application this year to get this report submitted by the February 29th deadline!
 
Please feel free to reach out with any questions that you may have to grants@firstwa.org and we appreciate your time and effort in assisting with this! 
Please reach out to your administrator at your school that handles grants to get this sent in asap! 
Thank you!!

FLL Explore World Festival Lottery!

 

I had 4 teams apply to attend World Festival for FLL Explore. After the drawing-

Congratulations team 23521 Little LEGO Tekineer Krew!

FLL Challenge Open Invitationals!

Results for the 4 Open Invitational

spots are below!

I stated in the last blog that the sign ups were open to award winning teams from the Eastern and Western Washington State Championships, and unfortunately I had two teams that did not win awards at state that applied along with 7 award winners. The results by event are below!

^

Western Edge Invitational in Long Beach, CA

There is 1 spot to this event. The team chosen is-

 

^

WPI Invitational in Worcester, Massachusetts

There is 1 spot to this event. The team chosen is-

^

American Dream Invitational in East Rutherford, NJ

There are 2 spots to this event. The team first team chosen is-

The second team chosen is- 

Congratulations to teams-

62832 RoboDogs attending Western Edge

60626 Incredibot Squad attending WPI

48572 42 Watts attending American Dream

60182 Kreative Koalas attending American Dream

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FRC Blog: Volume 18

by | Feb 20, 2024 | FRC

District Event Brief is LIVE

During our coaches chat last Thursday, I covered all the details you need to know regarding competing at FRC events this season. 

This information is extremely helpful and will answer most all of your questions regarding competitions. If you missed the chat, please familiarize yourself with the information below. You can watch the recording or read the slide deck!

I’ve also linked the location of all webinars and coaches chats. If you’ve missed one from the past, you can always find this information on our Webinars page.

Remember, you are responsible not only to know this information but to make sure that your mentors, parents etc. have all of the appropriate information for the events. 

Coaches Chat Recording
Event Brief Slide Deck

Event Specific Details

All event pages are live, and we’ve got event specific slides posted for weeks 1 events.

  • Week 1 events: Posted
  • Week 2 events: Will be posted 2-21
  • Week 3 events: Will be posted 2-28
  • Week 4 events: Will be posted 3-6

To find the event specific pages, click the button below then select the event you’re competing at! 

Remember, you are responsible not only to know this information but to make sure that your mentors, parents etc. have all of the appropriate information for the events. 

Upcoming Competitions

Quiet Rooms at Events

We are still looking for quiet room hosts for all of our FRC events this season. 5588 provides a tote that rides on the truck with quiet room supplies.

We ask that our host be willing to set up the quiet room and make sure it is staffed with 2 adults during the period of time that it is open. If you are interested in being a quiet room host, please fill out this form. In the event we get two teams willing to host, we will connect them so they can work together to provide a quiet space for our participants.

Remember, we can only have quiet rooms at events if volunteers sign up to support it. So if this is a tool your team utilitzes at competitions, please consider signing up to host!

Quiet Room

Remind Your Team to Volunteer!

To see what roles are available at what events, volunteers need to login to their FIRST dashboard (or create one if they’re new). If they can apply for it, that means it’s open!

Volunteer Availability:

  • Clackamas – some spots available 
  • Glacier Peak 
  • Oregon State Fair – many spots available! 
  • Auburn – some spots available
  • SunDome – many spots available! 
  • Bonney Lake – many spots available! 
  • Wilsonville – some spots available
  • Sammamish

Please remind students that all volunteer hours can go towards National Honor Society volunteer requirements and many other volunteer requirements. 

Specifically for adult volunteers, our greatest need is for Judges at Oregon State Fair and SunDome.

Consider signing up to volunteer, or helping recruit local volunteers! Remember, you cannot Judge at an event if you’re affiliated with a competing team, or you are younger than 20 years old.

Questions about available roles? Email Mara at Marak@firstwa.org to learn more!

Register to Volunteer

FLL Blog Volume 19

by | Feb 13, 2024 | FLL, FLL Challenge, FLL Explore

Open Invitational Lottery Sign Up

If you won an award at either of the FIRST LEGO League Challenge State Championships and are interested in attending one of the Open Invitationals, then please fill out the forms at the links below.

If more than one team fills out that events form, I will be holding a drawing to choose the team that gets to attend that Invitational. 

Each Invitational has its own form. I will be drawing in this order- Western Edge (1 spot), WAFFLE (1 spot), American Dream (2 spots).

If your team applies for all 3 and is chosen for more than 1, you will only get to attend the first one you are chosen for. Make sure you actually want to attend the Invitationals you apply for!

Teams are responsible for all expenses associated with the Invitational including registration and all travel.

Deadline to enter is February 18th. Drawing if needed will be held on February 19th.

Western Edge
WAFFLE
American Dream

FIRST LEGO League Explore World Festival Lottery!

The long awaited World Festival lottery sign up for FLL Explore!

If your Explore team is interested in attending World Festival in Houston- and has paid their FIRST Washington registration- fill out the form at the link below.

World Festival is April 17-20, 2024 in Houston Texas.

Teams are responsible for all expenses associated with the Invitational including registration and all travel.

Explore World Festival

More From FLL

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