Join a Zoom meeting next Tuesday  at 4:30pm to learn how your students can earn high school credit for what they’ve learned through FIRST!!  Please pass this invite along to your parents and students, as well as your administration! The two experts on the topic will be our special speakers: Megan Schrauben Executive Director, MiSTEM Network Michigan Dept of Labor and Economic Development Rachell Bowerman Instructional Intervention Consultant for Curriculum/Intervention Michigan Dept of Education (MDE) ZOOM INFO Date: Tuesday, May 22 Time: 4:30 pm Who:  Coaches, students, parents, school administration: so please PASS THIS INVITE ON Link to Zoom Meeting: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83327891046?pwd=cUJjeXROellJaS9OVndLS0ZBclRaUT09 Meeting ID: 833 2789 1046 Passcode: 293763 OneRead More →

As many of you probably heard, we had an issue with the division assignments. Please see the explanation below from Collin Fultz, Sr. Director of the FIRST Robotics Competition: The division randomizer was not built to handle specific pre-known event accommodation requirements. An example of a pre-known event accommodation may be that a team requires wheelchair access and only certain fields can accommodate that, but the randomizer placed the team on a field that won’t work for them.   The output of the division randomizer met the criteria as defined in the game manual when it was first run, and every effort was made to ensureRead More →

WHEN DO YOU FIND OUT IF YOUR TEAM QUALIFIES? Invitations for the State Championship will be released following the close of our last district event on Saturday evening.  The information can be found on our firstinmichigan.org website under high school events. Near the top, before the event list, is a link to the State Rankings. It will show there if you are qualified. 160 teams minus the Impact winners from our district events will qualify through their rankings. Impact winners qualify outright, without regard to their points/ranking. WHAT IF WE DON’T WANT TO ATTEND STATES? Please let us know if you plan to decline should you be offeredRead More →

Just in case you missed it, here is the link to today’s 5:00 pm Zoom call on “Cool Careers in Energy.” https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83450675091?pwd=c3hzRzgrbitobVFmdzNIQ0NobTlVdz09 Meeting ID: 834 5067 5091  Passcode: 055045 + 1 312 626 6799 US Please make sure your students have the link. Have them sign in with their first name and team number.   MDE GRANT  The MDE posted the list of 99h state grant recipients late last week. The list includes only the totals each team will receive. We took the MDE list and separated out the stipends and team support awards so it would be easier for your districts to know what toRead More →

Topics today include: MDE Grant Team Volunteers Lottery Info for $500 3rd events Week 0 Practice Event at Kettering this weekend Programmers Needed Consent and Release Forms Help Getting Robot Built MDE Grant We don’t yet have an exact timeline for when the MDE grants will be announced or paid, but we do know that the packet is being prepared for approval by the State Superintendent.  I heard from Ashley Arras last Friday that it will “hopefully be in a few weeks.” TWO TEAM VOLUNTEERS REQUIRED Each team must provide volunteers for two roles for two days at each event they attend. Students, PARENTS, FRIENDS,Read More →

UPDATE ON THE MDE GRANT Drew at  the MDE is hoping to close the modification period at the end of this week. Then he will submit the grants for approval. I am not sure how long the approval process takes but once approved, the awards will be announced and disbursed. New this year, all grants, public and private, will be disbursed in one lump sum. If you received a note from us with recommended modifications, please ask your level 5 to take care of those right away.  We are available to answer questions or walk them through the changes. EVERYBOT VIDEOS We have been working furiously to finishRead More →

Just got this from the MDE. EdTech is inviting you to a rescheduled Zoom meeting for today at 2pm. Topic: 99h Robotics TA Webinar Time: Oct 3, 2022 02:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meeting https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88175878774?pwd=MDBMK0ZoV3JyRDJZZ2VpY2hEUWMvUT09 Meeting ID: 881 7587 8774 Passcode: y3wRjV One tap mobile +13092053325,,88175878774#,,,,*450630# US +13126266799,,88175878774#,,,,*450630# US (Chicago) Dial by your location +1 309 205 3325 US +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) +1 646 558 8656 US (New York) +1 646 931 3860 US +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC) +1 564 217 2000 US +1 669 444 9171 US +1 719 359 4580 US +1 720Read More →

I am getting a lot of emails asking if a team has to do anything today to get their home event. The answer is yes!!!! You MUST PREFERENCE IT TODAY TO GET IT! You are not in it automatically. Preference it and it’s yours. Home event slots go away after this round of preferencing. Also whatever list you provided for your preference will be wiped out once you are assigned or waitlisted for your first event. Starting Oct 6 you will have to go in again and preference for your second event. If your Lead 1 or 2 is stuck getting through YPP and that’sRead More →

Hi, This email addresses event registration for FRC teams only. FTC and all FLL programs register for events with their local Michigan program directors. FRC registers for events through the firstinspires.org dashboard. EVENT PREFERENCING This Thursday at noon FIRST event registration opens.  Since two events are included with your registration fee, FIRST requires you to preference your event choices two separate times. The list you make tomorrow is just for one of your two events.  It is destroyed after first- event preferencing ends. You must make a second, brand new list in a few weeks for your second event. YOUR TEAM MUST BE “EVENT READY” TO REGISTERRead More →

I want to thank all the teams that submitted T-Shirt Designs. There were so many creative designs. The one design that emerged as the winner was designed by Kaitlyn M from Team 67. You can see it here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vT8jQ6hxW767D30jr3ICqAJ-QBtcRsmjivWVHDdQuysG20asb1FAQp840cvxyYweUlpcs64yMrPkWOr/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000 The FCA Foundation is super excited to see it on all the volunteers they are sponsoring at the State Championship! Thank you all for making the process of designing a T-Shirt for our State Championship so much fun! All the Best, Gail Alpert 248-425-4148 gail@firstinmichigan.orgRead More →