This season volunteers at the FRC FIRST in Michigan State Championship will be sponsored by the FCA Foundation, the charitable arm of Stellantis. We are launching a T-shirt design contest for the FRONT of the volunteer T-shirt to celebrate their sponsorship! FIRST in Michigan will take care of putting the FCA Foundation logo on the sleeve and on the back, so please don’t include the FCA Foundation logo on the front. CONTEST RULES Here are the rules of the contest: All entries must be a single color, WHITE, to go on a black T-shirt These are the elements that must be included in the artwork:Read More →

For those of you who plan to build Team 118’s EVERYBOT this season, tonight is the big unveiling of the robot. Tune into FIRST Canada LIVE at https://www.twitch.tv/firstcanada The show begins at 7:00 pm, with the EVERYBOT portion of the show starting around 7:35 pm. After the reveal, the EVERYBOT crew will be interviewed to talk about its design, followed by a Q and A. If you have questions, you can enter them in the chat during the show. If you miss the show, it will be posted to https://www.youtube.com/user/FIRSTRoboticsCanada/videos Starting this weekend or early next week, FIRST in Michigan will be releasing videos onRead More →

The MDE State Grant for FIRST Robotics is OPEN in NexSys!! THE GRANT CLOSES ON JANUARY 6, 2022 AT 4:30 PM. Note: This closing time is earlier than in prior years when the grant closed at 11:59 pm. Here are a few details: WHERE IS THE GRANT LOCATED? The grant this year is in NexSys which replaced MEGS+. WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE GRANT? The name of the grant is “99h: Robotics Competition Grant.” Scroll way down. Grants starting with a number are below those starting with a letter. WHO IS ELIGIBLE? Any MDE recognized public or non-public school/district may apply for the grantRead More →

Clarification: The MDE grant in NexSys is not yet open. They are still working out some technical issues. Stay tuned. Gail Alpert 248-425-4148 gail@firstinmichigan.orgRead More →

Just a quick note on two fronts: 1. MDE grant opens today in NexSys, not MEGS+. It will stay open until Jan 4. 2. MDE sent out an email earlier about their Technical Assistance Webinar which is today at 3:00pm via Zoom: November 22, 2021 3:00-4:30 p.m. The slide deck will be posted on techplan.org on their grants page sometime after the webinar. Join Zoom Meeting https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81365427791?pwd=T09sWkJ0cXB4VEJMakFiYTJxS21SUT09 Meeting ID: 813 6542 7791 Passcode: wk2TeB One tap mobile +13126266799,,81365427791#,,,,*371631# US (Chicago) +16465588656,,81365427791#,,,,*371631# US (New York) Dial by your location +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) +1 646 558 8656 US (New York) +1 301 715 8592 US (WashingtonRead More →

Third Event Lottery I have been getting lots of inquiries as to how teams can sign up for third event slots in Michigan. As in past years, Michigan will hold a lottery one evening in late January to fill any open spots. The cost to attend a third event will be just $500. If you want to be included in the third event lottery, you can go into your events in the dashboard and select the new entry we just put in today: “I want to be on the third play lottery list for Michigan” I will send out a general email too as weRead More →

I was just informed that they are looking to fund projects that are less than $2,000. If yours is higher than that, go in and scale it back quickly! Also if you are not a full-time teacher at the public school or public charter where your school is located, find a teacher there who is. I asked and was told it’s fine for them to set up your project. Again just be sure to put FIRST Robotics Competition in the description as much as possible. Thanks! Gail Alpert gail@firstinmichigan.org 248-425-4148   The MDE grant is a bit behind as they are moving to a newRead More →

As part of Careers in Energy Week, DTE has put out several challenges that allow your team to win up to $1,500. But you have to hurry. The challenge ends at 12:01 AM Oct 21! You can find all the details on our facebook page https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2037137759770845&id=145679775583329 Challenge 1- ROBOTICS ROCKS! Make a short video pitch (can use a cell phone) on Why FIRST Robotics Rocks! 30 second- 1 minute long 1st place $1,500 2nd place $1,000 3rd place $500 Form and details here https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=_tVhjkl3dk6I7m2Hma6BQ87cDz3ZAshJhENPkLJLAltUN0ZFUlNMMlE3UTk5TVU1SDRWNjVDOEkwWS4u&fbclid=IwAR3AwSrdq-zEA9yaIfvz58b49JQz7d2D3hwALPf5_JBbcpu0Sr9T-lTxksg Challenge 2- DTE COMMUNITY FIRST TEAM AWARD Mentor on your team that is a current or retired DTE employee nominates yourRead More →

FIRST EVENT PREFERENCING This Thursday at noon you can create a list of your choices for your first event right in your dashboard. Keep in mind, whatever events you put on this list are JUST FOR THE FIRST event, not the second. This list has no bearing on your second event picks. You will create a second event list on Oct 21 which might or might not be the same! GET EVENT READY TO PREFERENCE Before you can create a preference list for your first event, you will need to clear all of the outstanding tasks in your dashboard. This includes updating your YPP ifRead More →

Our District Awards Ceremony will be this coming Saturday, April 10 at 2:00 pm on Twitch. These are the awards that will be announced- Dean’s List Semi-Finalists District Level Chairman’s Award Here are the specifics: What-   District Award Ceremony When-   Saturday, April 10, 2021 Time-   2:00 pm Where-  www.twitch.tv/firstinmi01 Save Saturday, May 15, 2021, too, for the State Awards at the same time and place! Keep in mind, we post all of our FRC email blasts on the firstinmichigan.org website under “Resources” on the FRC page. Best Regards, Gail Alpert 248-425-4148Read More →