House Bill 1382 Passes!
House Bill 1382 Passes!
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.
Now it’s time for teams to get to work. Every team should apply for this money if they are a school-based program or have ties to a school.
This is a great opportunity to build out your pipeline and grow your community. Contact middle and elementary schools in your district and encourage them to apply for the grant to start an FLL or FTC team. You should also contact neighboring schools to encourage them to apply for the money to start a FIRST team with your help!
We will provide more information on a rolling basis as we get the details of the grant application from the Department of Education.
In our playbook, we have a “course” that outlines the necessary steps that schools will need to take to apply. We are providing 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 get ready.
Indiana Public School Superintendents – https://www.iapss-in.org/
Indiana K-12 School Directory (xlsx file) – https://www.in.gov/doe/files/
We will have more information on a rolling basis as it comes out.
Calling All FRC and FTC Teams: The Future is Yours to Create
Do you want to make a greater impact in your community? Are you interested in helping FIRST inspire elementary and middle school students to be science and technology leaders and innovators? Can you help us grow the FINfam?
FIRST Senior Mentor Lori Langley is looking for FRC and FTC teams to start FIRST LEGO League Challenge teams for the fall 2023 MASTERPIECE℠ season, where teams will shine a spotlight on the role STEM plays in the arts.
Your team can get involved by mentoring a team, sharing resources, assisting with financial support, or providing a practice space. Lori will support you throughout the season to help you manage the team, plan lessons, stay on schedule, prepare for Competition Day, and have fun!
Our goal is to offer an FLL Challenge qualifying tournament for all of the FRC and FTC-supported teams to attend as a community-building celebration, but we need your help! If you are interested in starting and supporting an FLL Challenge team or hosting a qualifying tournament, please contact Lori Langley: llangley@firstinspires.org.
The MASTERPIECE℠ challenge debuts on August 1, 2023, so don’t delay! Let’s work together to imagine and innovate new ways to create and communicate art across the globe!
Broad Ripple Art Fair
We have an outreach opportunity for teams on Saturday, May 20th, and Sunday, May 21st. Consider bringing your team to the Broad Ripple Art Fair and staff our booth to share with attendees the impact of FIRST and how they can start teams.
The booth will be on grass. Robots are welcome to show off, but you will probably not drive around. We are looking for FLL, FTC, and FRC teams that want to help us grow FIRST.
Fill out this form ASAP, and more information will be forthcoming.
https://forms.gle/cAKaQ4bjakLkHNBs8
End-of-Year Ideas
As your team wraps up another season, here are a few suggestions to prepare for next year.
- Hold an end-of-season banquet. This is a great way to thank sponsors, recognize students for individual accomplishments, and celebrate a long and hard season with some fun and food. Provide mentors with framed and signed team pictures, invite key sponsors, and provide a plaque for them to show off in their offices. Invite community or school leaders to thank them for their support.
- Conduct a SWOT analysis. If you have never done one of these, reach out and we can do a training call or even help you conduct your analysis. Here are some templates.
- Google Slide – make a copy of this, save it with a new name, and move it to a folder for your team to use.
- PowerPoint Slide – download this from the link here and use it.
- Hold some spring call-out meetings. Most fall activities will have spring call-out meetings for recruiting. Have one at the high school and at any middle school that feeds your team. You could do them right after school for students or hold one or two in the evening with interested parents. This is a great time to get your budget in front of them, recruit new mentors, emphasize the importance of parent involvement, etc. Make a list of things parents need to do for involvement. This is what bands, choirs, sports teams, etc., do every year. Parents are used to this.
- Host a spring open house for local businesses. Use this event specifically for sponsorship and mentor recruiting. Do training ahead of time with your students so they are prepared with “elevator pitches” and can direct attendees to not just see the robot, but are ready to commit to a pledge of support before they leave.
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?
There are only six active teams in Indiana with profiles.
71 Team Hammond
1555 Cryofrost
3865 Riley Wildbots
3936 Roboblitz
4926 GalacTech
9071 SlicerTech
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.
Registration Opens May 18th – Regrants
Save the date! May 18th is when registration for the FIRST Energize season will open. Another reminder is to make sure you re-grant any unrestricted money sitting in your account before the end of the school year. You will receive emails about this from FIRST. Lead mentors for teams that have a “credit balance” in their FIRST account must submit re-grant requests before the end of the FIRST fiscal year, which ends June 30. If you have issues with your re-grant request, please email firstroboticscompetition@firstinrpires.org or call team support –
Phone (FIRST)
(603) 666-3906 or
(800) 871-8326
- Finance Dept. x 563
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QArg43rCMBA
Save the Date – Off-Season Event in Fort Wayne
Get ready, one and all – there will be an off-season FRC event in Fort Wayne. September 28-30.
Friday, September 29th, we are looking for 6-8 teams to come out and run demo matches for the community. We are going to be inviting school leaders, businesses, etc., to the event on Friday to learn how they can start teams.
Saturday, September 30th – this will be the all-day competition.
Venue – working to finalize, but most likely Fort Wayne North Side High School.
Questions? – Contact Kyle Heaton – kheaton@firstinspires.org
We have resources for you!
FIN FRC Wiki – https://playbook.firstindianarobotics.org/mod/wiki/view.php?id=35
FIN YouTube Channel FRC Training Playlist – https://youtu.be/sfih59obtC8
Create an account on the FIN Playbook and join your regional coaches forum – https://playbook.firstindianarobotics.org/