Out to New England FRC teams...

NE FIRST Things FIRST

Week of June 22, 2015

FRC Team Advocate Welcome

As some of you might know already, Jamee Luce will be leaving her position as Regional Director for Maine and director of the Robotics Institute of Maine to become the FRC Team Advocate at FIRST HQ in Manchester, NH. Jamee has been involved in FIRST since 2008 as the lead mentor of FRC Team 2648, Infinite Loop from Oakland, ME, as well as lead mentor for the FLL Teams at her middle school. She has also been the Co-Chair of the Pine Tree District Event and the Regional Director for Maine since 2013.

As the FRC Team Advocate, Jamee will be working with the Engineering Team and FIRST management, as well as with Kate Pilotte and Jonathan Bryant on the Kit of Parts team. She will also become the Social Media and Website Content person for FRC. A key part of her job will be to represent the perspective of the teams at FIRST HQ, so if you have a suggestion, comment, or perspective, be sure to send her an email at FRCTeamAdvocate@usfirst.org.

We want to thank Jamee for all of her work as a part of the NE FIRST Operations group for the past two years, as well as her dedication to her teams and the greater FIRST community. NE FIRST will miss Jamee dearly, but we look forward to being able to continue to work with her in her new role at FIRST! Her original FRC blog post can be found here.

NE FIRST University Day in Connecticut Workshop Requests

This year's University Day will be on Saturday, Sept. 12. The event is an opportunity for members of the FIRST community to learn, meet, and share their knowledge with other teams. The event is open to FLL coaches, mentors and students from FRC, and invited guests.

If there's a workshop that you would like to see us host, or even one that you would like to run yourself, email your request to Lauren Jefferson at ljefferson@usfirst.org. Workshops can be done by individuals or groups and can be presentations or panels. Topics from previous years have included leveraging FIRST experience on college applications, social media strategies, scouting and drivetrain design.

More information about the event will be announced throughout the summer.

SOLIDWORKS FIRST Mentor Certification

Any FIRST team that designed their robot using SOLIDWORKS can gift their mentor SOLIDWORKS Certification. SOLIDWORKS Certification will give your mentor proof of their SOLIDWORKS expertise and set them apart in their profession.

Teams should create a short video that shows why your mentor is awesome and how this person made a positive impact on your team, and upload to YouTube or Facebook. Then, send a link to your video along with your team name, school/location, mentor's name, and mentor's email address to solidworks.education@3ds.com.

Once the information above has been received, your mentor will receive free exam coupons to take the Certified SOLIDWORKS Associate (CSWA) Exam, Certified SOLIDWORKS Professional (CSWP) Exam, and Certified SOLIDWORKS Expert (CSWE) Exam.

The original announcement and more information can be found here.

BAE Systems 2015 FIRST Grant

The 2015-2016 BAE Grant application is now available! Preference is given to teams that participate in BAE Systems-sponsored events, have a historical affiliation with BAE Systems, are mentored by a BAE Systems employee or are located near a BAE Systems facility.

The application can be found here and the deadline is Monday, Sept. 14. Questions about the application can be sent to bae.firstrobotics@baesystems.com.

Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening Grant

To support the outstanding work being done by FIRST teams, the Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening (SLAS) is offering a limited number of $500 team grants available on a first come, first served basis. Applications for these grants must be personally endorsed by a dues-paid SLAS member actively engaged as a coach or mentor in a local FIRST team. The application can be found here.

Boston Greenfest 2015

Teams are invited to take part in the Boston Greenfest 2015, one of the largest events of its kind in New England, on Friday, Aug. 21 through Sunday, Aug. 23. FIRST is being provided with a tented area in the Boston City Hall Plaza. Our part of the event would run from noon until 4:30 or 5 p.m., with load-in taking place before 11:30 a.m. Tables and electrical outlets will be provided.

This event is an opportunity for FIRST Teams to display their robots and to present their team activities to visitors in the center of Boston at the Plaza of Boston City Hall. From past years, we have received numerous accolades from both teams and the visiting public.

All teams from across all of New England are invited to participate in this event and teams will be allowed to attend for multiple days. If you have any questions, or if your team is interested in participating, please contact Steve Cremer at scremer@nefirst.org or 781-784-8935.

Boston Children's Museum Tinker Tent Event

On Sunday, Aug. 23, Boston Children's Museum will host its second "Tinker Tent", celebrating tinkering, engineering and making. The Tinker Tent, sponsored by National Grid, will showcase the work of tinkerers and makers from across the region, along with activities run by Boston Children's Museum. The event will take place under a large tent deployed next to the Museum near Boston Harbor

The event is requesting a few groups of FIRST participants to join the event and show off their work, specifically for teams to bring their robots to a demonstration area and interact with visiting children. Power and tables will be provided.

This is a great opportunity for teams to show off their work as the event draws thousands of visitors. If you need further information or have special requests and would like to attend, please contact Steve Cremer directly at scremer@nefirst.org. The sooner we know about who is able to join us that day, the sooner we can arrange for parking, when possible.

2015 Championship Wrap Video

Want to relive the fun and excitement of this year's Championship? Check out the 2015 Championship wrap video on YouTube! Be sure to check out some of the other awesome videos on the Official FIRST YouTube channel, as well.