ULTIMATE GOAL Coach Email Volume 14 2/3/21 – Virtual pits and FIRST WA grant deadline this Sunday
Greetings Coaches & Mentors!
If you are new to this email this is the place where you will find all of the Washington specific FIRST Tech Challenge information. Coaches in the FIRST system for the ULTIMATE GOAL season will be added weekly. Every email from me will be numbered and that number lets you know which update it is, if you miss an update you can find it on our website.
This email is long but there is a lot of important information, so please read through the entire thing. Here are the updates I have for you today:
- FIRST Washington Grant application deadline extended to This Sunday 2-7!
- Next virtual pits This Sunday 2-7 from 1-3 pm
- If you plan to compete this season and have not registered with FIRST, please register ASAP
- FTC Coaches chat next Thursday, 2-11 at 7:00 pm
- Recording from 1-21 coaches chat posted
- Tuesday’s with Kevin continue through February
FIRST Washington Grant deadline extended to Sunday, Feb 7
We have extended the FIRST Washington Grant deadline to Sunday, February 7 at 5:00 pm. It is important that every participating team fills out this grant application, this is how we are lowering the fee this season for all teams. We need your teams demographics so we can assign grants and report back to our donors. You can find the link to the grant along with other FTC specific information by clicking here.
Next virtual pits, This Sunday, Feb 7 from 1-3 pm
Heidi Lovett (from the SWERVE teams) and Christine Nichols from Fix-it will be hosting our next Virtual pit session from 1-3 this Sunday. I strongly recommend teams start attending these virtual pit sessions. We will be doing something very similar in conjunction with judging at the Interleague level of our events so that judges can visit with teams and ask follow up questions from their interviews. Use the sessions like the one this Sunday to figure out how your team plans to showcase what they are doing to the judges. It is also a fantastic opportunity to visit with folks that you aren’t getting to see face to face this season and it is a lot of fun!
To sign up for a pit or presentation room, click here.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83886191705?pwd=NHE1Qis3QmJFbWtYTzZpV0ZsVDltUT09
Meeting ID: 838 8619 1705
Passcode: 351621
One tap mobile
+12532158782,,83886191705#,,,,*351621# US (Tacoma)
+16699006833,,83886191705#,,,,*351621# US (San Jose)
Dial by your location
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 929 436 2866 US (New York)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington D.C) Meeting ID: 838 8619 1705
Passcode: 351621
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/klexX293b
If you plan to compete this season, please register with FIRST ASAP
We announced our official event schedule during the coaches chat last month (if you missed that chat, the link to the recording will be in a segment below) click here to see the schedule. We plan to send invoices out by next Friday and teams will be placed into leagues by the end of the month. Any public school team who applied for the OSPI grant should have been notified of their grant award (and remember those funds must be spent this school year) so now is the time to get your team registered if you would like to participate.
We recognize that all teams may not be able to build and compete with a robot, your team can participate in judging even if you do not submit robot scores so please don’t let this be a reason you don’t sign up. We will talk more about the specifics of the events and how they will work in our coaches chat early March and Kevin will talk more specifically about the judging process at that time.
Our next coaches chat will be next Thursday, Feb 11 at 7:00 pm
This is our opportunity to check in with all of you to see how you are doing and for you to share successes/challenges with your fellow coaches. We generally do not record these because the value is in the participation. If we do give specific information (as we did last month) we will create a recording and post it on our website. I encourage all coaches to attend.
General FIRST WA Zoom Account is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83846694396pwd=SGNWeVpiZFVreTd4b1Y5WWJhL1g0Zz09
Meeting ID: 838 4669 4396
Passcode: 128537
One tap mobile
+12532158782,,83846694396#,,,,*128537# US (Tacoma)
+13462487799,,83846694396#,,,,*128537# US (Houston)
Dial by your location
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington D.C)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 929 436 2866 US (New York)
Meeting ID: 838 4669 4396
Passcode: 128537
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdj51hKBaa
The recording from our 1-21 coaches chat has been posted
At this meeting we talked about registration, what the season looked like this year and touched a bit on judging.
Click here to review the slides and view the recording.
FTC Tuesday’s with Kevin 3:00 – 4:30 pm will continue through February
Have FTC questions or just want to hang out with FTC people? Join Kevin Ross on Tuesdays at 3pm Pacific for a 90 minute Q&A session.
Kevin is the Founding Chairman of FIRST Washington. He is a FIRST mentor going into his 22 year. He can help with mechanical, electrical, programming, judging, team organization, and can make all sorts of inappropriate jokes and bad puns to help your team succeed. No question is too simple or too complex. Feel free to come for a couple of questions, or stay for the entire time. Open to anyone in the FIRST community.
This meeting will be every Tuesday 3pm to 4:30pm.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82913817510?pwd=SEZPeC9UQmk2dkpWRFFsaXdkaWxvdz09
Meeting ID: 829 1381 7510
Passcode: NerdyTalk
Take care and have a great week everyone!
Kevin Emery
FTC Program Delivery Partner
FIRST Washington
Adrienne Rime
Director of Programs
FIRST Washington