FIRST Tech Challenge July Team Blast

July Team Blast

As many of you are preparing to welcome students back to school soon, the FIN staff is excitedly preparing to kickoff the CENTERSTAGE^SM presented by RTX Season!  You will find kickoff news, registration information, grant opportunities, as well as the latest on House Enrolled Act 1382, and much more.  This season I will be hosting a series of Coaches Corner calls to communicate important information, give season reminders and updates and give all of you an opportunity to give feedback and ask questions.  I hope you will join me for the first call of the season on Tuesday, August 29.

If you have any questions or need assistance, please reach out to me anytime.  I can be reached via email at tthompson@firstindianarobotics.org or you can schedule a call with me using this link.

All the best,

Trisha

FTC Coaches Corners

New this season!  Calling all coaches and mentors! You’re invited to join us for the first of our monthly Coaches Corners. During these virtual meetings, we’ll share best practices for coaching a FIRST team, provide essential coaching resources, and discuss necessary administrative tasks. Every Coaches Corner will end with a Q&A session, so come prepared to ask your burning questions.

When:  Tuesday, August 29 at 7:00 pm.
Link:  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88345685470?pwd=WWdpVWg1SHI1SXJ0dEFBbFAxK1lEdz09

Reminder:  FIRST Grant Policy

As you are registering your team, here is an important reminder regarding the FIRST HQ Grant Policy:

What this means:  If you are anticipating receiving grant funds, you can still register your team, but do not pay until those funds are available in your dashboard. Unused funds are returned to the donors at the end of the season.

Consent & Release Form

Good news!  FIRST HQ has modified their Consent & Release Form so that a separate Indiana Form is no longer necessary!  This means that all of the forms your team members’ parents need to fill out are in the FIRST dashboard, and you will only need to print that roster to bring to competition.

House Bill 1382 
House Enrolled Act 1382

We did it! Thanks to your continued effort and dedication, there will now be an anticipated $3.5 million available from the state for competitive robotics for schools.  Special thanks go to FTC Team 12014 Fire Wires for all of their work toward making this bill come to fruition.

Now it’s time to get to work.  Every school-based team should apply for this money, we are still waiting on information form the Department of Education and will update you when we have instructions on how to apply.  In our playbook we have a “course” that outlines what we know so far.  There is a toolkit of resources for you to use to be ready for the application.  You can also use this toolkit to share with other schools to help them prepare.

This is a great opportunity to build out your pipeline and grow our community.  Contact schools in your area and encourage them to apply for the grant to start an FLL or FTC team.

Indiana Public School Superintendents – https://www.iapss-in.org/superintendent-directory

Indiana K-12 School Directory (xlsx file) – https://www.in.gov/doe/files/2022-2023-school-directory-2023-01-17.xlsx

Kickoff

The CENTERSTAGE^SM presented by RTX season kicks off Saturday, September 9th at noon.  We will be celebrating at several locations around the state, and would love for you to join us!  You’ll get an in person look at the new game, as well as some freebies from our sponsors.  Look for a complete schedule of locations & times in an upcoming email.

State Championship and Advancement News…

The State Championship is scheduled a little later this year; it will be held Saturday, March 9 at the University of Indianapolis.  It is important to note that the payment deadline for World Championship teams is March 21st, and that registration amount is $2500.

We expect to learn how many teams from Indiana will advance to Houston in late December.  There were 196 FIRST Tech Challenge teams at the 2023 FIRST ENERGIZE Championship, that number will increase to 224 for the 2024 FIRST IN SHOW Championship, and will further increase to 256 for the 2025 Championship.

Game Manual Part 1

FIRST^® Tech Challenge released the Game Manual Part 1. Every team should read over and make sure to understand all of the rules outlined in Game Manual Part 1, which include robot build rules, competition rules, advancement rules, etc. For a quick reference of some of the changes for the upcoming season, please check out this recent blog post.

NE Indiana Teams:  Grant Opportunity

Grant Details:
The FIRST®/BAE Systems Team Grant Application period is now open for FIRST Lego League (FLL), FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) and FIRST Robotics Challenge (FRC) teams. If you are located within 70 miles of Fort Wayne, you may be eligible.  Interested teams should apply via this link.

FTC Application Deadline:  September 22, 2023

• Important: FLL and FTC teams should not check out or pay for your season via FIRST until you have confirmed receipt of a BAE Systems grant.

For questions, please contact bae.firstrobotics@baesystems.com.

For nearly 30 years, BAE Systems has supported national nonprofit FIRST® to inspire the next generation of innovators, creators and problem solvers. BAE Systems Electronic Systems (ES) sector is proud to continue its support as a national Strategic Partner for 2023-2024 as part of ES Community Investment’s Tech Power* Program. Tech Power maximizes our impact on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education and improving the lives and wellbeing of Veterans and their families.

FIRST Mentor Network

Is your team in need of mentors?  Did you know that you can set up a FIRST Mentor Network profile in your dashboard and then your team will be visible to potential mentors in your area.

Visit the FIRST Mentor Network site – https://info.firstinspires.org/mentor-network

After setting up your profile, start posting links to it on social media.  Create a one-pager and share with your local chamber of commerce.  Share it with your local sponsors to encourage mentorship.  Take a flyer with you to local outreach events and hand out to adults.  Create a poster with a QR code encouraging people to sign up to be mentors.  Use – canva to create your poster- printing is inexpensive.

New Storefront Items

AndyMark Game Set Orders:
We’d like to share some exciting news on the options for teams to purchase FIRST^® Tech Challenge game sets for the 2023-2024 season.

FIRST Tech Challenge Storefront 

On Saturday, 9-September-2023 at 12:00pm eastern time, AndyMark game sets will be available for purchase through the FIRST Tech Challenge storefront. This means that teams will be able to use 2023-2024 season grant funding to purchase their game sets!

AndyMark Pre-orders – North America and International

On Thursday, 4-May-2023 at 12:00pm eastern, AndyMark game sets were made available for purchase through the AndyMark website.

Please note that grant money secured through FIRST cannot be used through the AndyMark website. Teams wishing to use their grant money secured with FIRST must use the storefront when purchasing opens in September 2023.

Please see our latest blog for pricing and ordering instructions.

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