02.20.25 Team Eblast

Spring FTC Events  l  99h State Grant Awards Posted

SPRING FTC EVENTS

Sign-up for spring FiM FTC events will open on Tuesday, February 25th, at 7:00AM. Participation in spring events is optional for teams that competed in the fall season. There are two separate forms this year. One for the FiM FTC Traditional Spring Events and one for the two FTC All Girls Off-Season Events.

  • Spring FiM FTC Traditional Event Registration Form Link (opens 7am, 2/25)
      • Direct URL: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfeOKGKs20K2Ayl6rGobphEcnZQINfJal5OuJM3zVy1rCEW1w/viewform?usp=sf_link
      • NOTE: The Detroit FTC spring event will have a limited number of event spots open for teams that already competed this season.

If your team still needs to compete in a FiM FTC official event in the 2024-25 season to satisfy the competition requirement that accompanies grants (rookie grants, 99h state grant, FiM sponsor-specific grants) the team must sign up for a Spring FIM FTC Traditional Event. An Off-Season Event will not satisfy the competition requirement for grants.

List of Spring FTC Events
Spring events are posted on the FiM FTC EVENTS site page: https://firstinmichigan.us/FTC/events/. All spring events will play the INTO THE DEEP game.

Spring FiM FTC Traditional Events
Traditional events include match play, judging, elimination rounds, and awards. The spring event fee is $100 paid directly to the event host at event check-in.

Placement order protocol:

  1. Teams that did not compete in the FIRST in Michigan FTC fall season and still need to compete for the first time this season.
    • NOTE: The team’s spring event registration form must be received within the first 24 hours that the form is open. After this time period, forms are processed in date/timestamp order.
  2. Teams that have repopulated for the 2nd semester i.e. classroom-based teams.
  3. Remaining spots are open to teams that competed in the fall season and would like to compete again as event capacity allows.
    • Form submissions are date/time stamped and each order of assignment category will additionally use its attributes as a factor. Teams must be officially registered for the current season with FIRST HQ and be comprised solely of MI middle school grade team members OR team members who will be in middle school next season.

Off-Season FTC Events
The two optional off-season events are both “All Girl” events. These events will not have a judging component. The event is $100 paid directly to the host at event check-in. Off-season event registration forms will be processed on a first come-first served basis until event capacity is reached.

Event Specifics: Drive teams should consist of all girls (with the exception of the drive coach) and, while all genders are more than welcome to support, girls are encouraged to take a leading role in the pits as well. Not enough girls on your team? Invite a few friends from another team or girls who will be transitioning from FLLC to FTC. Team merging is allowed!

Spring Event Readiness
FIRST HQ and FiM FTC things to verify:

  • Team is registered for the 2024-25 season with FIRST HQ.
  • All team event participants (coaches/mentors/team members) have electronically signed a FIRST HQ Consent/Release (C/R) form. This is the only C/R form needed this season.
  • Team has both a Lead Coach/Mentor 1 and 2 listed on the Team Dashboard and both have completed their FIRST background screening. The Team Roster will not be accessible until these steps have been completed.
  • Email the event host the team’s FIRST Team Dashboard Roster by Monday of the event week. This needs to be done for every event where the team participates. More info on this once teams are assigned to an event.
    • To download the team roster: On the Team Dashboard, under Team Contacts/Roster section, click “Contact Options”, choose “Print Team Roster”. On Team Contacts page, click “Print Roster”
  • Visit the EVENT READINESS site page for the tasks that must be done for a team to be FIRST HQ and FIRST in Michigan “Event Ready”.
2024-25 99h STATE GRANT AWARDS POSTED

The MDE has posted the 2024-25 99h State Grant awards on the techplan.org site page: https://www.techplan.org/edtech-initiatives/rdi/competitive-99h-robotics-competition-grant/ and not on the grant’s new site page https://www.michigan.gov/mde/services/financial-management/grants/oset-grants/99h—robotics. We are not sure if the MDE will be moving the information to the new site page.

 To stay within the legislated funding buckets, the MDE applied a percentage decrease to all awards. Public Schools were awarded approximately 55.4% of the maximum they could apply for on the application. Non-public Schools were awarded 66.7% of the maximum. The actual awards by program are illustrated here: 2024-25 99h Final Awards by Program Chart (link).

 To see what the teams in your district were awarded, visit:

Grant Remittance
You will not receive a check for your award. Instead, it will come electronically on one (and only one) of the district’s monthly state aid payments. It will be on line 99h on the statement that accompanies the payment. Please alert your Level 5 and your business office to watch for it to ensure you get your money.  We have asked the MDE the timing of the payout but have not yet received a response

The money is solely for your team and can be spent on anything related to the team. It is not limited to the items you listed in your budget on the application. The school may not put it into the general fund and use it for things other than your team. If stipend dollars were received, the stipend must be paid out to the coach(es) along with a 25% match added to the top.

The funding period concludes on September 30, 2025. Any unused funds, after this date, must be reported to the Michigan Department of Education (MDE). Rollover of funds is no longer permitted.

Questions
This grant is administered by the MDE, not FIRST in Michigan. For questions, please call or email the MDE at 517-241-6966  or MDE-EDTech@michigan.gov. Be sure to include your team’s fiscal partner, robotics program, team number in correspondence.