If you missed the deadline in March for submitting for ANY of the challenges, you can still submit for the skills challenge and keep your State MDE funds! Submissions are due by: APRIL 8 AT 3:00PM (no extensions) Please let me know if you plan to do that by filling out this simple form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScpxRRhloSfRid9sPV_aRQQJ6-eK94XA0ePTy0YuL47pbe-dA/viewform If you don’t think you will make it, please call me right after filling out the form. Here is most of what you need to know: Teams will not be interviewed and will not be eligible for awards  You will be placed into the Samarium group  Every team is eligible to participateRead More →

We are thrilled to announce the second Dream Maker FREE webinar taking place on Feb 23. The topic is Building a College and Career Action Plan. Students and their parents will have the opportunity to meet with a trained advisor from the College and Career Access Center of Jackson. The webinar will walk you through options like college and trade schools. Then attendees may ask questions as they are building their own personalized plan for the future. Here are the details- What-   Building a College and Career Action Plan When-   Feb 23, 7:00-8:00 pm Who-    All parents and FIRST students Details and Registration- https://zoom.us/webinar/register/4016135881456/WN_cSAA-uuBRm2LmnZveBirxQRead More →

I have been getting a lot of emails asking about where you submit, when you submit, when winners are announced etc. So I decided to make a handy, one-stop spreadsheet for you. You can find it here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vSiwgcRGSddQTmWVIQGEvY3fp9RCoNpggvPWIagRgXnhpwi9MzbvhZwFL5uyhSnS9tDGmU_ke3F-pag/pubhtml Hope you find it useful! Gail Alpert 248-425-4148 gail@firstinmichigan.orgRead More →

I am excited to announce that our incredible sponsor, MAGNA, has agreed to provide a ROMI robot kit to each and every Michigan FRC team!!!! This is a FABULOUS tool to learn to program. The small robot comes complete with sensors and uses the exact same FIRST software and WPI libraries that are used to program your competition robot. The kit will have everything you need: The Romi The Raspberry Pi (3B+) Micro SD card 6 batteries You can learn more about it here. https://www.pololu.com/product/4022 and more details here: https://docs.wpilib.org/en/stable/docs/romi-robot/getting-to-know-romi.html I placed the order for the Romi yesterday and will order the Raspberry Pi, microRead More →

Hey everyone, Just wanted to share a link to our FAFSA webinar. Heidi, thank you again for stopping by, hope you enjoyed it! https://youtu.be/C-8PeEwGwxE Thanks, Jack Nowakowski Director – Dream Maker InitiativeRead More →

Many teams inquired as to the breakdown between team support and stipends in the grant award from the MDE. Use this link to see the breakdown- https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQSFcEbHeNudPXuBSBLsnh-ZC9DOUQVUbX8xDl4xeMprJPA2n2rcxLGrqxCnb8tvT3wSnPUq4QUzH42/pubhtml Again, you can find your award here- https://www.techplan.org/edtech-initiatives/rdi/first-robotics/ Thanks! All the best, Gail Alpert 248 425-4148 cell gail.alpert@gmail.comRead More →

The state grant award list is out!! All Eligible Teams Got an Award All eligible teams were awarded the state grant. But, it appears that there were too many applicants to pay out the maximum award to all eligible teams. So, rather than pay some schools and not others, the MDE opted to reduce all awards, across all programs, by the same percentage to ensure every team got paid. I think this was a GREAT approach. The same method was used to ensure that all eligible non-public school teams got an award. To make the numbers work though, the MDE had to reduce the non-publicRead More →

We are excited to announce a brand-new program coming to FIRST teams throughout Michigan! Consumers Energy, Jackson Community Foundation, College and Career Access Center of Jackson, and FIRST in Michigan, are joining forces to launch new opportunities for FIRST teams through the Dream Maker Initiative. Teams will have the opportunity to create appointments for career and post-secondary planning for the students. Inaugural Event: FAFSA Webinar-Jan 26 The very first event is being offered to all teams in Michigan on January 26. It is a webinar for seniors on your team and their parents that will guide them through the FAFSA application process. Here are theRead More →

Michigan teams are invited to apply for a $1,000 cash prize by participating in a competition sponsored by ASQ Automotive Division. You can find all the details here- https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vS20lysCfGnqIODgwIp31wrckVd1CCIZ3DxIm_uaoEXytuYbH-Qzg9CcZLPZaBdRw/pub You are required to fill out this form to participate. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScjAVBYL_Wq6dZAz0p6KqYGRwH4L7fk6iQJGvra91ShDJKGCg/viewform Submissions are due by Feb 28, 2021. Best of luck, Gail Alpert 248-425-4148 gail@firstinmichigan.orgRead More →

I heard from the MDE this morning. They are busy working on the grant awards now, but they don’t expect to have final approval until at least the end of January. Just wanted to make you aware that we will not hear about district awards from the MDE Grant until the end of the month at the earliest. Also, just a quick heads up. I just met someone who is amazing at brainstorming. I asked and he agreed to run a virtual brainstorming workshop this Sunday with the tools he used at FCA. We hope to tape the session so you can access it ifRead More →