SCHECHs for Educators, deadline 6/1 l Woody Flowers Conf 6/20-21; sign up info l Updated Program Dates l Shout Outs! l Game Preview & Skill Builders l BIOBUZZ Game Element Pre-order l Season Kickoff l 99h State Grants Distributed l 99h FY27 Status l 26-27 Event Fee Increase l 2026-27 Qualifier Hosting l Systemcore Hardware Sessions
SCECHs FOR EDUCATORS – Due by June 1st
Educators serving as coaches or mentors have the opportunity to earn State Continuing Education Clock Hours or SCECHs. Educators who coached a team in the 2025-26 fall and/or spring season can apply. These hours can be used for renewal and progression of certificates and licenses issued by MDE.
Requirements to Earn SCECHs
- Applications for SCECHs under the Robotics Competition Grant must be submitted by the educator serving as a coach or mentor.
- Applicants must include their Personal Identification Code (PIC) within their application. Directions to determine your PIC are included in the application.
- Applicants may only claim hours as a coach or mentor for teams that participated in a competition.
- Time spent at competitions does not count toward SCECHs and should not be logged.
SCECH Log and Application Instructions
All Robotics Competition Grant SCECH applications are due June 1, 2026. Late submissions will not be accepted. Submitted SCECH applications will not be processed until after the June 1, 2026, due date. Please allow at least two weeks after the due date for your SCECH hours to update.
- Record your eligible coaching hours using the SCECH Log. Eligible coaching hours are outlined in the Requirements section above.
- Complete the SCECH Application by June 1, 2026. In the application, please upload your completed SCECH Log.
Please direct all questions to the MDE at MDE-EdTech@Michigan.gov.
WOODIE FLOWERS CONFERENCE – DETROIT, JUNE 20 & 21
The Woodie Flowers Conference is coming to Wayne State Univ. in Detroit, June 20 & 21st! See the linked flyer for more information on the event, including the sign-up QR code. Flyer: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1INjsRPq9IDpR4Ix_yPkx–NjasFcUGhZ/view?usp=drive_link.
The Woodie Flowers Conference brings together passionate educators, volunteers, coaches, and mentors from the FIRST community. This unique event is organized by the Woodie Flowers Award recipients, with the support of Detroit-area Woodie Flowers Finalist Award recipients and FIRST Teams. The event is run as part of The Woodie Flowers Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
For a list of presenters and topics: https://woodieflowersconference.org/presenters. Amazing opportunity to connect, share, and learn!
UPDATED KEY PROGRAM DATES (anticipated)
Note that FIRST HQ has adjusted some of the 2026-27 key dates.
- June 8-15: FIRST Dashboard will be closed for maintenance and season rollover.
- June 15 (est): When the Dashboard reopens, teams will be able to mark their intent to participate in the FIRST CANOPY season on an updated team profile.
- July (exact date tbd): 2026-27 season registration opens. The new FIRST Storefront and the ability to pay for season registration and purchase products will become available.
- Sept. 12: 2026-27 FTC Season Kickoff (full BIOBUZZ game revealed).
- Oct. 19: Earliest event date for Qualifiers/League Meets.
- Oct. 31/Nov 2: Anticipated Week 1 of Qualifiers
- Dec. 11/12 or 12/13: Anticipated FiM FTC States’ events.
NOTE FOR NEWLY FORMING TEAMS:
Those looking to form a new team for 2026-27 should wait until July when the new FIRST Storefront opens to create the team. FiM FTC will be offering the usual rookie team grants for school-based teams for 2026-27, which will be available when the FTC Storefront opens. Status of FIRST HQ FTC grants is not known at this point. I will eblast teams with more info as I learn it.
SHOUT OUTS!
HUGE WELL DONE to our teams that competed at FIRST Championship in Houston! FiM FTC teams had a strong showing with several teams advancing to division playoffs, two teams earning division awards, and a Da Vinci (finals) Winning Alliance team, FTC 11228, OverClucked Bots from Zeeland! Way to go!! FIRST Champs FTC results: https://ftc-events.firstinspires.org/2025/FTCCMP1.
GOOD LUCK to our Premier Event competing teams. We’ll be cheering you on!
Reference: List of next-tier competing FiM FTC teams.
CONGRATS to our FiM 2026 Inspire the Future FIRST Recognition Program honorees:
- Educator Honoree: Sarah VanLoo from Ann Arbor, Michigan (Grades 6-8)
- School Honoree: East Kentwood High School in Kentwood, Michigan (Grades 10-12)
2026-2027 GAME PREVIEW & SKILL BUILDERS CONTENT
BIOBUZZ Game Preview
In case you missed it, FIRST FTC HQ has shared a preview of the 2026-27 BIOBUZZ game, providing some early info to help teams explore foundational aspects of the new game and get a head start preparing for the new season. In addition, the STARTER BOT Base designs from REV, goBilda, Studica, and AndyMark have been shared. The base designs consist of a drivetrain and intake, which will be used as part of the full StarterBot builds posted at kickoff. Links to these designs are part of the above-linked preview blog post.
Skill Builders
To further support teams as they explore these foundational aspects of BIOBUZZ, FIRST Education has launched a series of activities hosted on FIRST Training, including FIRST Tech Challenge Skill Builders. This content is designed to guide teams as they experiment with the new pollen scoring element and learn about the robot challenges unveiled in the Game Preview. These Skill Builders include learning content, challenges, and fun robot mini-games that are directly applicable to BIOBUZZ and the upcoming season. Teams can build driving skills, refine intake systems, and tackle autonomous challenges to level up their learning!
BIOBUZZ GAME ELEMENT PRE-ORDERS OPEN
AndyMark is accepting pre-orders for BIOBUZZ full or partial sets of game elements: https://andymark.com/collections/first-tech-challenge-2026-2027/products/ftc-2026-27-preorders. Pre-orders will ship beginning Sept. 14th. Great use for any remaining 99h grant funds!
Full Set: $599
Partial Set (red or blue): $399
Prices do not include shipping/handling
New this season – POLLEN, the scoring element that will be used in the 2026-2027 season’s game, can be purchased for immediate shipment RIGHT NOW! Beeautiful!!
BIOBUZZ SEASON KICKOFF SEPT. 12th
The 2026-2027 FTC season will officially kickoff on Sept. 12th with the full reveal of the season’s new game BIOBUZZ! This season’s overarching theme is FIRST CANOPY. With STEM as their tool and nature as inspiration, today’s boldest innovators are finding new ways to strengthen the connections that protect our shared home. In BIOBUZZ, teams will use engineering skills and amplify the excitement and energy found within the natural world.
There will be FTC Kickoff Events in various locations around the state on Sept. 12th. While attending a kickoff event is optional, these events often offer workshops, info sessions, and can feature a “reveal” of the BIOBUZZ official playing field! Plus, the opportunity to connect to your local FIRST community!! Stay tuned to the EVENTS FiM FTC site page, which will be updated with kickoff events as they are added.
99h GRANT AWARDS HAVE BEEN DISTRIBUTED
Reminder that the MDE 99h State Grant awards have been distributed.
- Approved LEAs, PSAs, and ISDs received award funds through their April State Aid payment on April 20, 2026.
- Approved Nonpublic schools received award funds via SIGMA VSS on April 30,
- Awarded funds must be utilized by Sept. 30, 2026.
- Per the MDE, awarded funds may not be pooled and redistributed among other teams or used for expenses outside of this program.
A simplified spreadsheet showing FIRST team awards by district is available below. This is the same info that was previously shared.
Link to the Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/
Key Things to Know About the Spreadsheet:
- Only FIRST team awards are listed.
- The coaching stipend is awarded per building. It may need to be shared with the other teams in the given building, where applicable. Work with your district/school for this determination.
- The MDE reduced awards proportionally for all teams to stay within the allocated funding bucket:
- Public schools: 61.89% of maximum
- Non-public schools: 65.7% of maximum
- The spreadsheet includes:
- One tab for public schools
- One tab for non-public schools
Questions: This grant is administered by the Michigan Dept. of Education. If you notice discrepancies after comparing with your Nexsys application, contact: Mde-edtech@michigan.gov.
Competition Requirement: Having competed in a fall 2025 or spring 2026 FIRST in Michigan FTC full-scale event satisfies the competition requirement that accompanies the 99h state grant.
99h GRANT STATUS
The 99h state grant is in the FY27 budget versions for the Governor, House, and Senate. The Governor and House versions maintain the current 99h funding levels for both public and non-public schools. The Senate version has included a “bump” in funding levels for both. This is a favorable position for the grant at this point. Indications are that the budget will be resolved by its statutory July 1 deadline
FiM FTC EVENT FEE INCREASE
The FiM FTC event fee for qualifiers and league tournaments will be increasing this season from $100 to $125 per team. This fee is remitted directly to the event host and comprises the event budget. We have not increased this fee since 2016. Hosts use this fee to cover event expenses such as volunteer food, rentals (tables, etc.), event shirts, trophies, printing, and other costs in support of the event.
This increase, along with the increase in the FIRST HQ FTC season registration fee, will be taken into consideration as we work with the MDE to determine FY27 99h grant funding levels, contingent upon the grant’s approval.
2026-27 QUALIFIER HOSTING INTEREST
Event hosting is a great way to have an event close to home! It is also a great outreach opportunity for an FRC team and provides teams with the chance to compete more than once during the fall season. Hosts retain the event fee, which comprises the budget for the event. There is a maximum of 6 events per weekend (6 FTC trailers), and FiM FTC tries to balance event locations on a given weekend to accommodate as many teams as possible and ease the crunch on local volunteers.
Information on hosting a FIRST in Michigan FTC event can be found in this Google folder: FIRST in Michigan FTC Event Organization. Resources include equipment list, sample budget, planning guides, schedule, layouts, etc.
If your “hive” is a fit for hosting and you have many willing worker bees, email tammy@firstinmichigan.org with your hosting interest.
SYSTEMCORE HARDWARE SESSIONS
Stay tuned! FiM FTC will be organizing Zoom sessions and inviting our FiM FTC teams who are alpha testing the new Systemcore hardware to share what they’ve learned to date. Reminder that Systemcore will be coming to FTC in 2027-28. Start writing down your questions. Details on sessions will be shared soon!
